The Aether
by Yo How's it Going
Summary: In the patterns of the cosmos Aether is the elusive fifth element that has circular motion vs. fixed elementals that moved in lines. Effectively, the Aether does not follow any particular rule of energy, but rather it IS the rule.
1. The Story

Yo, how's it going. So a little more than a couple things before we start.

1) This story has a couple of Legend of Korra characters in it but has _nothing_ to do with Legend of Korra. I used these characters because it just made sense to do so and that's it.

2) I'm not the best writer in the world. I make mistakes...lots of them. Feel free to let me know of any of these mistakes by which ever means you like and I will try to fix them along with the next update.

3) I don't own ATLA blah blah blah

4) The first three chapters are going to be a flashback like thing. Just a few things I have to set up before getting into the meat of the story. There will be a serious lack of Avatar-ish things in these first three chapters, so please bare with me.

5) Have a nice flight, it might be a long one.

* * *

 _Long ago in a distant land, evil spirits roamed free causing chaos though out the world. At the heart of all the evil was Vaatu, spirit of chaos and darkness. Vaatu and his army forced humans and animals alike to fight for the land they lived on and enslaved those that were weak. The sky's turned a blood red as death, chaos, and destruction ravaged the world._

 _Raava, spirit of peace and light, and her sister Concordia, spirit of harmony, battled hard with their armies to defeat Vaatu and end his reign of terror but to no avail. Raava and her sister, having no other choice, turned to the great lion turtles to request their help but they did not want to interfere with such small affairs. Raava begged the turtles, there must be something that they could do to restore balance to the world. The lion turtles, feeling a bit sorry for the pleading spirit, directed them to an ancient sleeping spirit said to be more powerful than all of them combined and he alone could put an end to the madness. Raava asked the name and location of this powerful spirit, but the turtles could only answer with the words 'he is above' but be warned there will be a price to pay. Raava and Concordia took the words in a literal sense as they flew above to the celestial plain to meet with this nameless spirit._

 _Upon entering the plain both felt a presence so strong moving forward felt like trying to move a mountain, something they have never felt before. With some struggle they followed the force until finally, they found themselves upon a large building with purple light emitting from every window. The building made the two sisters look like ants as they entered. It was completely empty other than one raised platform where a strange creature lay in the middle. For as long as the sisters had been alive the spirit world_ _and the physical world they had never seen a creature like this before. Its body and head resembled that of a tigers with white fur and black stripes but instead of tiger whiskers and feet, they were that of a dragon. Mounted on its back was the shell of a turtle and from the shell two wings resembling a phoenix lye at rest. Around the creatures neck was a black cauldron that looked to be filled with nothing but dirt._

 _Raava was the first to approach the beast with caution. She told the spirit that the world has been thrown into chaos and darkness and asked if the spirit could help. The beast payed no mind to her staying in its sleeping position. Raava once again pleaded with the spirit asking for its help but was once again ignored. Annoyed with the spirits lack of response Concordia stepped up and shouted at the spirit, saying he had no business being a celestial spirit if he was going to just let the world sink into darkness. It was a celestial spirits duty to protect the world below not let it be destroyed._

 _This seemed to get to the beast as he slowly opened its eyes and un-tucked its body from its sleeping position. The beast's size seemed to increase as it stood. He questioned the smaller spirits presence with a booming voice asking why he should help those who just abuse power; those who are doomed to repeat history over and over again. Raava asked to give the planet another chance, let the people prove that they can be good. The beast remarked that they have had several chances to prove themselves and have failed every time. It would be better if the world died and started over with something new. Angered by this Concordia yelled at the spirit saying he couldn't do that, there are still innocent beings that don't deserve to die. It was a celestial's job to protect everything living below not wait for it to be destroyed. The beast scoffed at the notion and turned away from the two. Raava once again asked for the help of the powerful spirit while her sister continued to say there was no use in asking for such a selfish and useless spirit for help. Angered by the comment the beast quickly turned and roared. He agreed to help but it would come at a heavy price._

"Oh my look at the time" a woman with long red hair said looking at the Spiderman digital clock, closing the large book with pale hands. Her blue eyes fixed themselves onto the small children sitting in the same bed both with wide eyes. The young boy had dark brown curly hair that formed a small fluffy afro. His skin mimicked the color of creamed coffee while his eyes where dark brown. The small girl next to her brother had the same skin tone but had curly red hair. Her eyes where two different colors, one blue and one a light brown.

"Aw c'mon mom you can't just end it right there!" the seven year old boy said pulling at his short hair while dramatically falling back onto his pillows.

"Yeah that's no fair, you always have to finish a story or else the story monsters will eat your feet" a four year old girl said crossing her tanned skinned arms.

"And who told you that?" their mother said crossing her arms as well mimicking her daughter.

"Daddy did of course! He said he almost got attacked by story monsters when he was a kid."

"Monsters aren't real you dumbo" the boy blurted glaring at his sister

"Hey, I'm not a dumbo, my ears are not that big" she whined back, cupping her hands over her ears.

"That doesn't mean big ears, that means you're stupid!"

"Hey, Nathan what did I say about calling your sister that?" their mother said with a stern voice.

"Sorry mom."

"I'm not stupid, they are real. I've seen them before!"

"They are not!" Nathan shouted back.

"Stop it, both of you!" their mother scolded in a slightly louder voice. She stood up and walked over to the bed to sit in-between the two kids.

"Trinity, monsters are only real if you believe them to be okay?" her mother said calmly "now get back into your own bed, it's bedtime and we have to get up early tomorrow."

"What are we doing tomorrow?" Nathan asked as his sister shuffled out of his bed and into her own

"We're going to see your grandmother tomorrow remember" their mother said getting out of the bed and placing the book on a nearby shelf.

"Man, not grandma, her house smells like old fish" Nathan groaned crossing his arms over his chest pouting.

"Yeah old fish and dog buns" Trinity chimed in from under her blanket

"Now where in the world did you hear that from?"

"Daddy" both kids said in unison

"Just because her house smells like old fish and...dog...buns does not mean we can never visit her besides she always gives you guys ice cream." their mother said walking over to the two kids.

"Yay, ice cream! Remember last time mommy, when we went to the mall and got the superman sweat ice cream and it tasted like fruits." Trinity squealed

"Yes dear" their mother chuckled walking over to her daughter. She pulled the blanket off of her head pushed her down and draped it over her.

"Can we finish the story when we get back from grandma's house" Nathan said in the middle of a yawn. His mother walked over to him pulled the covers over him, gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead. "Of course we can dear, when we get back." With that she walked over to the bedroom door and flicked the light switch off leaving just the little night light on.

"Good night both of you, I love you." she said before closing the door. She heard two small voices saying good night and I love you too as she walked down the hall into the living room. There sat her husband dressed in pajama pants watching some random show on the television. His darker brown skin glowed from the light as he looked over at his wife scratching the small afro forming on the top of his head. She plopped on the couch next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"They both asleep? "he asked placing a light kiss on her forehead.

"Yup, after some protest. I didn't get to finish their story."

"Which one did you tell them this time?" he said with a chuckle

"The one about the spirits."

"I thought we agreed not to tell that one any more, remember. It gave Trinity that really bad nightmare." he remarked looking down at his wife.

"Victor, you know why I have to tell that story to her." She said her voice showing more concern

"Ella I've told you this a thousand times I'm not going to let our daughter be taken away by anything. I don't care who or what it is."

"It may not be our choice Vic, she's marked with eyes of the spirits and last time that happened in my family my great grandmother disappeared."

"Or she has a full heterochromia iridis, which plenty of humans on this earth have, and your great grandmother is just as crazy as your mother." Victor said looking down at Ella. He saw the disappointed look on her face and sighed rapping an arm around her shoulder.

"Listen, we've had this little debate over and over again for four years, and I'd rather it not continue until we're dead and gone," he gently grabbed her chin in his fingers and turned her head slightly to face him.

"I know you feel an obligation to tell that story to her but can we at least wait until she's Nathen's age, just so she doesn't have the nightmares, please." he said to her, looking straight into her eyes.

Ella looked back at him; his brown eyes digging their way into her very soul. She slowly nodded her head in agreement breaking the strong stare, "Fine, but as soon as she's seven I'm telling it to her every night."

"I am completely okay with that" he said

Both in mutual agreement, they comfortable on the couch and watched the TV.

"By the way?" Ella said turning her head to Victor

"Hmm"

"Story monsters eating feet?"

Victor let out a small laugh "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Meanwhile, in the kid's room, a bright purple light filled the space. Both being asleep, they were oblivious to any of the light. The light collected itself next to the sleeping girl's bed and formed into a female human like figure. The figure reached for the girl but stopped just before touching her cheek. "You are still too young, but soon my child you will follow" With that said the light dispersed again eventually disappearing.

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There you go friends, first chapter of the flashback. Please let me know what you think by review or PM, which ever suits you best. Thank you so so much for reading.


	2. The Trip

Yo, how's it going, glad you came back!

* * *

"Hurry up guys we're late!" Ella shouted from the front door.

Two small children ran down the hall bundled up like marshmallows in their winter clothes. Ella knelt down to make sure everything was zipped and buttoned properly while Victor trudged down the hall with two large duffel bags in each hand and two smaller backpacks on each shoulder.

"You think they have enough clothing hun. At this point I think they might bounce away." He said placing the bags on the floor.

"Oh oh, I wanna bounce like a bouncy ball." Trinity said raising her hands in the air bouncing up and down.

"Tell you what," Victor said kneeling down to his daughter's level.

"I'll use my magic powers to turn you into the biggest bounciest ball in the world." Trinity's eyes lit up with joy as he went on. "And you will bounce across the world taking over and ruling everything in your bouncy path" Victor said in a heroic voice picking up the small girl and lifting her above his head

"No fair I was to be a bouncy ball too." Nathan cried from the floor.

Victor set Trinity down and lifted Nathan up. "Of course son, we can all be bouncy balls together."

"How about we bouncy balls bounce our way into the car, I told mom we left thirty minutes ago and we have a two hour drive ahead of us" Ella said opening the door.

A cold gust of wind zipped through the door causing both kids to shiver. Victor put Nathan back down on the ground and grabbed the bags. Ella grabbed the still shivering children's hands, "Come on the car is all warmed up."

After fifteen minutes of Disney songs Victor turned off the radio. "Daddy, why'd ya turn off the music?" Trinity said with a whine.

"Because sweetheart, if daddy hears another Disney song he's going to crash the car"

"Victor" Ella growled putting down her book to glare at him.

"How about we tell some stories and give daddy's brain a break. Nathan you wanna go first buddy?"

"Yeah!"

"Ok, what's your story about?"

"When Trin and me were playin knights and warriors in the backyard and we found this big ogre."

"Whoa really! Did you defeat it?" Victor laughed matching the excitement of his son.

"Yeah! Trin almost got hurt but the purple lady saved her."

"Is the purple lady another knight or warrior in your group?" Victor asked.

"I don't know who she is. She just sort of showed up." Ella lowered the book she reading and made a confused face at Victor. He didn't seem to be too worried about it. Ella turned, looking at Trinity.

"Do you know who the purple lady is" she asked the small girl looked up from playing with her zipper.

"Nooope"

"Is she..." Ella paused for a second. Asking whether an imaginary person was real or not seemed silly. Of Course a four year old would that believes that the pepperoni on pizza where flying saucers would believe that a purple lady was real. "Is she, um a neighbor or something"

"Mommy, Mr. and Mrs. Nichols are too old to jump over the fence, besides the purple lady glows like a light bulb."

Victor let out a laugh "You got bested by a seven year. "

Ella smacked him in the thigh with her book glaring at him. "Ow! I'm driving woman don't do stuff like that!" He tried to hit her back with one arm.

"She's like a fairy with no wings." Trinity chimed in joyfully.

"So is she a fairy?"

"No daddy fairies have wings"

"Well excuse me" Victor said with a laugh.

"She comes in our room sometimes at night too but she doesn't do anything." Nathan said.

"What does she do?" Ella asked.

"She just stares at Trinity, sometimes she tries to touch her but she doesn't. I tried to ask her what her name is but she ignores me."

Both parents went silent for a second.

"Well that ah...that's really, really disturbing" Victor said slowly.

"How many times does she do this?"

"She does it a lot, Trin is usually sleeping and I guess she thinks I'm sleeping too."

"And she doesn't say anything to you at all?" Victor asked slowly but with more concern in his voice. Before Nathan could speak Trinity spoke up.

"Oh! Oh! She sometimes will talk to me."

"And what does she say sweetheart?"

"She says she wants me to follow her and holds her hand out like this," the small girl pushed her small hand out like she was trying to reach for something.

"And have you ever followed the purple woman?" Ella asked.

"No, cuz daddy says don't follow strangers."

"That's my girl!" Victor said proudly.

"Well, Nathan if you ever see the purple woman again, I want you to yell for me or your daddy okay?" Ella said seriously.

"Okay mommy but why?"

"I just...I want to meet her"

Silence fell over the car other than the small sounds of trinity playing with her toys. "So who wants Disney music" Victor said both the kids cheered in excitement, naming off the song they wanted to hear.

After another hour both the kids fell asleep in the car and Ella was finally able to ask the question that had been nagging her brain.

"So do you...," she couldn't find the words to ask. "What do you think about the whole purple lady thing?"

Victor scoffed, "You really don't believe that this 'purple lady' is real right?"

Victor looked Ella thinking she was joking or something but her expression was nothing but fear and worry. What in the world is she so afraid of Victor thought to himself.

"Hey, hey what's wrong." he took one hand off the wheel and placed it on her shoulder.

"I just," Ella let out a sigh. "My mother always said"

"Oh lord, not your crazy mother. It's bad enough we have to spend the weekend with her"

"Victor, please."

Ella was well aware of Victor's feelings towards her mother and he wasn't necessarily wrong. Ella's mother had gone a little crazy after her mother, Ella's grandmother, disappeared suddenly without a trace. She became obsessed with finding out what happened to her almost dragging Ella into the mix. She would always say things to Ella, things that didn't make any sense. The person with two eyes is doomed to disappear, beware the color purple, different dimensions or worlds existing, it was all just crazy talk. Ella never payed any attention to it until Trinity was born. When her mother came to see the new born she screamed and almost threw the small girl on the ground. Thankfully, Victor was there to take the child before any damage could be done but ever sense then, Victor deemed her as crazy and did not trust her around the children. Despite these issues, Ella and her mother still have a pretty good relationship. She promised her mother that she would visit twice a month with the kids to stay in touch. But now her words are starting to make sense and it was terrifying her. What if all of this crazy talk was true. Was something going to happen to Trinity; she was just a little girl.

"Ella?" Victor broke her out of her train of thought. He was going back and forth between her and the road concern riddled his face.

He let out a sigh, "Listen I'm sorry I called your mother crazy...again she just weirds me out with all the shit that keeps spilling out of her mouth, and then she always acts so strange around Trinity and it just freaks me out."

He glanced back at Ella again. "El come on, talk to me."

Ella sighed "I'm just scared okay, some of the things that she said," Ella looked down at her hands they were shaking slightly.

"I feel like the things she said, the things she would say to me. They seem to be applying to Trinity in some way or another and it is terrifying me Victor." she looked up from her hands and over to Victor.

"I cannot stand even the thought of something happening to our daughter." "And nothing will happen to her alright." Victor's voice became deep and serious his hand gripping the wheel so tight it almost squealed like a pig.

"I will not allow anything to happen this family okay" he glanced over at Ella her face was still stricken with worry. "Okay?" he placed a hand on her knee causing her to look at him. She slowly nodded her head "Okay."

Another thirty minutes of silent driving, they finally arrived at a large white house. "You know I always forget how rich your mother is until we get to her house." Victor said as they pulled up to the large gate.

The house sat on a fifteen acre plot of land complete with a huge security gate, a garden with a full sized green sized green house, and a giant pool. Victor rolled down the window and press the gate button.

"Hello?" the voice of a teenage girl spoke on the intercom.

"Hey Emily, it's us, open up" Victor said leaning out the window.

"Who's us"

Victor gave a frustrated sigh pinching the bridge of his nose"Emily, please we've had a long, long drive and we just want to get in and get settled alright"

"I dunno Mr H., Mrs. Jackson pretty adamant about keep strangers out."

"Damn it Emily open the gate!"

"Daddy dats a bad word you owe us all a quarter" Trinity chimed in.

"Yes, yes sweat heart I'll give you a quarter in a second." Victor said leaning in close to the intercom.

"Listen Emily, if you do not open this gate I will reach through this gate and strangle you."

"Alright alright, jeez no need be so violent."

"Thank you," Victor said leaning into the back into the car.

A loud buzz rang through the air as the large gates opened into the property. The family drove to the garage parking area and unloaded both bags and kids out of the car.

"Mommy, can Trin and I go play in the garden?" Nathan asked.

"Sweetheart it's freezing out here, you guys will catch a cold. How about you guys play in the guest bedroom. You remember where it is?"

"Mmhmm, I remember!" Nathan turned to his sister and grabbed her hand.

"Come on Trin, let's play knights and warriors again, bet we can find a dragon this time."

"Yay," Trin giggled and the two of them ran inside passing an elderly woman walking toward the front door.

She let out a small laugh as she walked out to meet the busy parents. "I see the kids are just as wild as ever." she said with a kind grin on her face.

Both parents looked up from the car, Vic hitting his head on the trunk door causing him to hiss in pain rubbing his head.

"Mom! How are you?" Ella walked up, hugging her mother.

"Well, my hair is gray, I have more wrinkles than a shar pei, and I realize that wearing clothes with bright yellow flowers on it are more comfortable than regular clothes." She said hugging back. "but I'm fine"

Ella backed u looking at her mother. Her red hair had gone gray and wiry, wrinkles littered her face and hands, and her she was wearing slippers brown slacks and a light blue sweater with yellow flowers littered all over it.

"You look fine mom."

"Yes, well you're my daughter you're supposed to say nice things. Come inside, it's freezing out here." She wrapped her arm around Ella's shoulder leading her inside.

Victor watched as they walked inside with a glare "Hey Margret. How are you? I'm fine, thanks. No, no I'll get the bags, its fine." Vic slung the bags over his shoulder and stalked inside after the two of them.

Ella followed her mother down he entrance hall into the large den. She sat in one of the four large chairs surrounding a large fire place. Framed pictures and wall decorations filled the walls making it feel very homie. Margret sat in in the chair next to her daughter.

"So, let's catch up how is everything?"

"Everything's fine. Works fine for the both of us. Nathans loving first grade but he's a bit shy though. Making friends is a bit hard for him. Trinity on the other hand is have no problems in kindergarten. All of her teacher say shes got a very vivid imagination."

Margret smiled "Well I'm glad Nathan is getting along well."

Ella sighed"Mother, you can't just..." She stopped when she saw Victor stroll in with the bags on his back.

"Oh Vic I'm sorry. Do you need any help with those?"

"Nah, I'll carry them up to the room and be back down." he grumbled as he walked away.

Margret continued as he walked away, "Well, I'm sure Nathan be fine. He's a very bright boy."

"Mother, your ignoring Trinity, again. I thought you weren't going to do this anymore?"

Margret spoke up again her voice not as cheerful "That girl. Has she seen it?"

"Seen what mother?"

Margret slammed a clenched fist on the arm of the chair "You know what I mean Ella. That...that thing. That purple glowing monster."

"Mom, know that stuff isn't real, please can we not talk about this again."

Margret stood up enraged "It is real Ella! Your grandmother didn't just disappear; she was taken by that thing! That girl knows where she is!" Ella then stood up facing her.

"She is a four year old girl, she doesn't know anything! She doesn't even know what her grandmother looks like!"

"No! She knows where she..."

"Is everything alright in here?" Victor walked in looking back and forth between the both of them. Ella let out a frustrated huff.

"Vic I think we left something in the car, will you help me get it?"

Victor at his fuming wife "Ye-yeah, yeah." Ella stomped past her mother and walked back to the car with Victor right behind her.

Once outside Ella let out a frustrated yell running her fingers through her hair. "She had another freak out again." Ella said leaning against the car.

"Yeah I heard, usually it takes a few hours before the first yelling match."

"Maybe we shouldn't bring the kids anymore, well, at least not Trinity. Maybe she'll settle down if she doesn't see or hear about her anymore."

Victor leaned against the car next to her, "Maybe if we leave them with a sitter for the weekend and just you and me come up here from now on."

"You wouldn't want to stay home with them, I know you hate coming."

"No offense, but I would not feel comfortable leaving you alone with her for three days. I know she's your mother but I can see her getting caught in her own delusions and attacking you or something."

"She wouldn't do that, shes never hurt anybody."

Suddenly small running footsteps were heard on the other side of the door only to stop and fiddle with the door knob. Victor walked over to the door and opened in to find a disheveled Nathan panting at the door. Victor knelt own to his level,

"Whoa, buddy calm down. What's wrong?"

Nathan looked at his father panting "We, we were playing and...and Trin fell and the purple lady came. Now she won't wake up! Grandma went to go check on her but you said to come get you if we see the purple lady so I ran around and around and and"

Small tears began to form at the corners for the small boys eyes. He began to sniffle and hiccup along with his panting making him hard to understand. Victor gently grabbed both of his sons arms and gave a little shake

"Hey hey hey, calm down okay buddy. Now I want you to stay here with your mom while I go check on Trinity okay?"

"Ok." The small boy sniffed trudging over to his mother and hugging her waist.

Victor turned to Ella as he ran out the door, "Stay here, and keep your phone on you!"

 _ **Rewind**_

"Come on Trin, let's play knights and warriors again, bet we can find a dragon this time."

"Yay," Trin giggled and the two of them ran inside passing an elderly woman walking toward the front door. The two children ran down the hallway up the stairs to the bedrooms that the family usually stayed in. Trinity immediately ran to the bed jumping up and down on it while Nathan inspected the room.

"Ok! So the bed on the left is Mt Doom, that's where the dragon lives. You have to cross the wood bridge, that's the tall dresser in the middle of the beds. The bed you jumping on is the village and they want us to defeat the dragon."

Trinity stopped jumping on the bed and scooted on the floor. "Can the rugs be lava?"

"You wanna play on hard mode?" "

Yes, and, and the Tv is a portal to another world filled with the ogre peoples that eat cotton candy, but only the blue kind cuz the pink kind is poison."

"Trin, I don't think we'll need the ogres this time."

"No no we need them cuz ogre spit makes dragon poison."

"Well, how are we gonna get it?"

"Ogres like to spit a lot so we just need a bowl."

Trinity looked around the room and saw a big glass bowl filled with decorative rocks on top of the tall dresser in-between the beds. She climbed bed crawled toward the dresser. Even standing up on the bed the dresser was too tall for her to reach. Reaching up, she bounced on the bed until she caught the front edge of the dresser causing it to creek and buckle a little bit.

"Don't break it, you'll get in trouble." Nathan said backing up a little.

"I won't" she responded as she swung her foot up to catch onto the horizontal handle of the dresser. The dresser groaned under the weight of the four year old as she hoisted herself on top of the dresser reaching the bowl.

"I got it!" she said cheerfully grabbing the bowl with both hands.

"Drop it down, I'll catch it."

Trinity leaned forward to drop the bowl down but putting all of her weight toward the front of the dresser caused the front legs to snap sending the bowl, the girl, and the dresser hurdling to the ground. In a matter of seconds , Nathan ran, the bowl fell first, shattering, sending glass and rocks all over the ground. Then came the girl along with a bright flash of purple light.

* * *

Alright, part two of the flashback is done. Once again, I apologize for the lack of Avatar stuff in these chapters but your almost there. Please let me know what you think through review or PM, which ever suits you best. Thank you so much for reading!


	3. The Incident

Yo, How's it going and welcome back!

* * *

Nathan saw the dresser falling in slow motion. He went with his first instinct, running out of the way of danger. Diving out of the way, a bright purple burned behind him. The sound of the wood dresser exploding and crashing against the walls and floor. Glass and rocks flew in every which way, some hitting Nathan in the back. He turned slowly to see what had happened to his sister. The dresser was in pieces, splintered wood was scattered across the room. The rocks and glass were not as scattered, almost like they were just tossed away. In the middle of all the destruction was his sister laying still. Nathan ran to her and began to shake her, "Trin? Hey, Trin wake up."

He dragged the smaller girl into his lap "Come on Trinity, wake up."

He tried to pick her up but she was too heavy for him. "Okay, okay I'll um…I'll get mom and dad, they can wake you up."

Nathan blotted to the door almost tripping as he went through. He ran down the stairs and into the den where he spotted his grandmother staring into the fire place muttering to herself. He approached her slowly, "Um Grandma, the dresser fell and and, I think it fell on Trinity. She won't wake up. And the purple lady..."

Her eyes shot open at those words. "Purple lady? Where? Where did you see her?"

"I-in the bedroom, we were playing and..."

"I will check on the girl."

With that she left heading up the stairs to the spare bedroom. Nathan had half a mind to follow her up there but something told him to find his parents. He ran around the house searching for any sign of his parents. After three full minutes he finally found them by the car. His father knelt own to his level after opening the door "Whoa buddy, calm down. What's wrong?"

Nathan looked at his father panting "We, we were playing and...and, Trin fell and the purple lady came. Now she won't wake up! Grandma went to go check on her but you said to come get you if we see the purple lady so I ran around and around and and..."

Small tears began to form at the corners for the small boys eyes. He began to sniffle and hiccup along with his panting making him hard to understand. Victor gently grabbed both of his sons arms and gave a little shake "Hey hey hey, you did good okay buddy. Now I want you to stay here with your mom while I go check on Trinity okay?"

"Okay."

The small boy sniffed trudging over to his mother and hugging her waist. "Hey, hey sweetheart look at me." Ella looked down at her son.

His eyes were red and puffy as he looked up at his mother. "You did really really good okay. When something goes wrong you always get mommy or daddy"

"Is she gonna be okay mom? She...she wouldn't wake up."

"Don't worry, your father is taking care of her."

Ella, on the inside, was losing her wits. Her daughter was somewhere in the house, passed out and apparently non-responsive and she had to stay down here. But she had to stay calm, if she freaked than Nathan would do the same. She just had to breathe and then...the sound of a phone ringing interrupted her thoughts. She picked it up "Hel-"

"Ella, keep Nathan down there and don't move until the police get here."

The panic she tried to store away came back in an instant.

"Victor what the hell happened? Is she okay?"

"Your fucking mother happened that's what! She was...Hey you stay the fuck over there alright! Don't move."

Some shuffling and the sound of her mother's voice was heard in the background along with a loud 'bam' sound. "Damn it, listen just…stay down there, she's breathing and has a pulse okay. She...she should be fine."

He hung up after that leaving Ella scared and confused.

 _ **Rewind**_

The girl became scared when the dresser broke. She fell fast expecting to feel sharp glass or hard rocks but instead she saw a face. The purple lady's face, her arms reaching out to her. As soon as they touched everything went black. Instead of sharp pain she felt cold dirt and a warm sun bleeding trough trees. She blinked her eyes open, blurry at first showing greens and browns. As her vision cleared she realized that she was no longer in the spare bedroom in her grandmother's house, but in a forest. She was surrounded by dense forest and the smell of damp leaves with musky moldy dirt. Trinity sat up from her laying position, "H-hello?"

She fully stood looking around more frantically, fear beginning to take over her. "Nathan? Mommy? Daddy?"

She began to wonder through the forest looking for anything familiar. The sounds of strange animals and insects filled her ears as she walked on. She continued to wander and call out for any response until she happened upon a building. It was large and old, made from crumbling stone with moss growing within the cracks. Stairs lead up to a plateau that had an entrance doorway in the center. She slowly walked up to the building climbed up the rough stone until she came upon the opening to the building.

"Mommy? Daddy? Is anyone there?"

Her voice echoed into the darkness. She didn't dare venture in the doorway, it was too dark, too scary. Tears began to form at the corners of her eyes. She didn't wonder off did she? She couldn't remember leaving the house, just the fall. She remembered her parents saying if she was ever lost to call a number, but what was that number and where was a phone? Trinity took a seat at the top of the stairs. Maybe someone would come to the building; maybe her parents would find her here.

"Well, hello there child."

Trinity quickly turned around to the stranger's voice to find an old woman. She stood immediately, preparing to run.

"There is no need for fright child, I will not harm you."

The small girl relaxed slightly. The old woman before her was cloaked in a dark purple rope that covered all but her head. Sliver hair fell upon her wrinkled face which had an eye patch covering her left eye. She held a large stick she was using as a walking cane which also looked quite old.

"Can...can you help me find my parents? I don't know where I am?"

The old woman let out a small laugh, walked to the top step and sat down.

"Come sit child, as I said, I will not hurt you."

She hesitated at first then slowly sat on the top step a good distance away from the woman. "So, my dear where did you come from?"

"I was at my grandma's house and Nathan and I were playing a game. I tried to get the bowl but I fell, then I woke up here." She hiccupped through her explanation as tears started to fall from the small girls eyes.

"Now, now child crying will get you nowhere. It seems like you are lost in more ways than one."

"So, you don't know where my parents are?"

"They are elsewhere, in a different land, in a different time. They will not find you here and you will not find them." Trinity's eyes began to fill with tears again.

"What did I say about tears girl?" The old woman pointed her cane stick at Trinity.

"They um, they don't get me anywhere." she said slowly.

"That's right, you'll do right to remember that child"

Trinity wiped her tears away with her sleeve "So, um what do I do? I have to find them. Daddy said to never wonder off without them. I'll get in trouble."

"You will not be here long. You are not old enough, not experienced enough. She will take you back soon."

Trinity didn't exactly know what that meant, who was going to take her back. "Um, who is taking me back cuz daddy says don't go anywhere with strangers."

"You needn't worry about that, you will be safe."

The old woman shakily stood up "Come child, I will get you some food and drink."

"But you're a stranger too and daddy says…"

"What is your name child?" the woman interrupted.

"Trinity, but sometimes my big brother calls me Trin."

The old woman looked at the small girl straight into her eyes, "You can call me Grey, Trinity. It is nice to meet you."

She held out a bony wrinkled hand. Trinity looked at her hand for a second then timidly shook it. "Now come, you must be hungry?"

"But…"

"You have given me your name and I have given you mine, we have also talked for a little while. Am I still a stranger?"

Trinity began to fiddle with her fingers and looked down at her shoes. Was this woman still a stranger; she didn't know and she was a little hungry. "Um, do you have any ice cream?"

"I do not" They both made their way slowly down the stone steps

"Do you have any strawberries?"

"No, I do not, I do believe I have some fruit."

"Yay! I like fruit. I like apples and oranges and strawberries and kiwis and"

"Yes, yes I understand now; you like fruit."

"Fruits are colorful too and you wanna know why?"

"Why is that child?"

"It's because leprechauns make them grow out of the ground. They control the rainbows too and…" The small girl babbled on and on about fruit and leprechauns as they trekked down the stairs.

 **Rewind**

"Vic, I think we left something in the car, will you help me get it?"

Victor looked at his fuming wife "Ye-yeah, yeah."

Ella stomped past her mother and walked back to the car with Victor right behind her. Margret watched as her naive daughter walked away from her. Why did she not understand? Why did she not care? It had to be that girl, that thing! Margret walked over to the fire place and stared into the flame. Her mother had disappeared a few years after Ella was born and she saw it happen. That monster had lead her away, it stole everyone away. While trying to find her mother, her friends abandoned her, her husband left her, and that man stole Ella away from her right from under her nose. They all thought she was crazy; they were wrong. She had done research, she knew the truth. It may have lost her everyone but she knew the truth.

"That girl knows where she is, she has to know." she began talking to herself.

"I need to find out. I need to find out how to get there." She continued to mutter to herself, unaware of Nathan running up to her.

"Um Grandma, the dresser fell and, and, I think it fell on Trinity. She won't wake up. And the purple lady..." Her eyes shot open at those words.

"Purple lady? Where? Where did you see her?"

"I-in the bedroom, we were playing and..."

"I will check on the girl."

She quickly pushed past the small boy making her way up the stairs. This was her chance. She could finally confront the purple lady; finally find her mother. She walked through the doorway to find the room in shambles and the little girl laying on the floor. This was defiantly her work, she could feel it. She slowly approached the girl, "I've finally caught you."

She knelt next the the small girl, "Now, tell me where she is."

The girl didn't respond.

"Don't act like I'm not here!"

The girl did not respond.

"Don't act like you don't know who I am!"

The old woman began to shake the unconscious girl, getting more violent with each shake. "Where is she?" Martha screamed at the top of her lungs but the girl did not respond.

"Fine."

Martha slowly wrapped her bony fingers around Trinity's small neck "I'll make you tell me. You won't let me kill her, will you?" She squeezed as tight as she could; she knew the monster would not let her die.

For a moment there was no reaction, no response until girl began to twitch and change color. Her skin changed from healthy tan to a sickly blueish purple.

"Don't make me kill her monster! Come out!" Martha screamed once again.

 _ **Rewind**_

At the bottom of the stone building, Trinity and the old woman sat beside a small fire. The small girl was humming as she ate another fruit that the woman had given her.

"I like these fruits. What are they again?"

"That's the fifth time you've asked girl" the woman growled.

Trinity stared blankly for a second "I like them, they're sweet."

"Spirits, help me," the woman sighed rubbing her girl had not stopped talking about fruit sense she mentioned them.

"It's a moon peach child."

"Moon peach? Do they grow on the moon?" she asked taking another bite.

"They do not."

"Then why is it called a moon peach?"

"It is said that they grow from the moon"

"Wait, but you just said..."

"From the moon, not on it."

Trinity looked at the woman with one eyebrow razed "...Huh?"

"I will do no more explaining and slow down, you'll choke."

Trinity did what the old woman said, chewing slower then swallowing. She was about to take another bite when suddenly it became harder to breath. At first it was like breathing through a small tube then after a few gulps of air she couldn't take any in. She began to cough and gasp grabbing at her throat.

"Now I told you not to eat those so fast or you'd choke." the old woman made her way over to the girl and started to pat her back. When fell forward still gulping for air the old woman started to panic.

She turned the girl on her back and felt her throat to see if a piece was lodged in place. What she felt shocked and terrified her to no end. There was nothing stuck but her throat was constricted like someone was pressing down on it. As the girl started to turn blue, her eyes rolled in the back of her head as the gasps began to get softer and less frequent. The woman put her hands together and prayed. There was nothing she could do, only the great spirits could save the girl now.

 _ **Current Time**_

A bright purple light began to emit from the small girl growing bigger and bigger forming into the shape of a woman.

"Yes! Yes! That's it! There you are!" Martha yelled keeping her grip on the young girl's throat.

"What the hell is going on in here!" a voice yelled in the Victor's arrival the purple light vanished along with the woman shape it formed.

"No, no! I was so close. Come back! Come Back!"

Martha began to violently shake the girl again until Victor charged in and threw the old woman off making her smack her head against the floor putting her in a daze. He pulled his little girl in his lap and placed his ear by her mouth to see if she was breathing. When he heard and felt nothing he laid her back on the floor and tried doing CPR.

"Trinity, come on baby, you have to breathe for me." he panted trying to get as much air as possible into her small lungs. After the second try the girl finally took a deep breath and began to move slightly but still would not open her eyes.

"Ok, ok we're breathing" Victor let out a sigh of relief "We're breathing, now um...shit." Victor dug out his phone out of his back pocket and dialed 911.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Yes, I need an ambulance. My daughter was choked and wasn't breathing at least one to two minutes."

"Is she breathing now sir?"

"Yes, yes, I got her breathing again but she's unconscious and hasn't woken up."

"Alright sir if you give your location I'll send someone right away"

While Victor talked to the operator, Martha began to stir from her daze. When Victor hung up the phone with the police he called Ella next.

"Ella, keep Nathan down there and don't move until the police get here."

"Victor, what the hell happened? Is she okay?"

"Your fucking mother happened that's what! She was," Martha began to try and get up, "Hey you stay the fuck over there alright! Don't move."

She stood up fully wobbling back and forth, "No, she was there. What did you do?" She tried to walk forward only to trip on a piece of wood and fall over.

"Damn it, listen just…stay down there, she's breathing and has a pulse okay. She...she should be fine."

Victor really didn't want Ella to see, not only her daughter like this, but her mother as well. He would rather have her worried down there than panicked up here. Scooping up his little girl, he gently placed her on one of the beds then looked around the room.

"What the hell happened in here?" He slowly walked over to Martha still on the floor.

"Martha?"

There was barley a response with small movement. "Martha I'm going to lift you onto the bed okay?"Once again, she gave little response.

Victor leaned down and picked the elderly lady up and sat her on the bed opposite of Trinity. She was extremely dazed and confused, muttering to herself incoherent words. "Crazy old bat." Victor said walking back over to Trinity and sitting next to her.

 _ **Slight rewind**_

The old woman held her hands together in prayer above the motionless girl. An entire minute passed until the child took a deep breath of air and her color began to return. The old woman stopped her praying and looked down at the girl, "Oh thank the spirits you're alright."

Trinity's eyes began to flutter open as she started to stir awake. "Are you alright child?"

"I don't want any more peaches from the moon." she rasped out.

"No more peaches," she grabbed a skin pouch of water next to her.

"Here, drink."

Trinity took the sack and took a small gulp "Can...can I go home now?"

"In due time, she is making preparations."

"What's a pep-or-ations?"

"It's nothing child, rest now." Trinity began to close her eyes as a purple light began to surround her body.

Slowly, she began to fade from existence, "Be more careful with her this time, we will need her unharmed later." Grey said when the purple light was at its brightest. Not long after she said this Trinity was gone.

 _ **Current time Kinda**_

After about five minutes, police and EMTs filled the house. They strapped Trinity to a gurney and wheeled her out with an oxygen mask strapped to her face. Martha was placed under arrest and sat in the back of one of the police cars.

"Listen, I'll ride in the back with Trinity just in case they have any more questions. You can follow behind with Nathan alright?"

Ella was on the brink of tears as soon as she saw her daughter coming down the stairs with a mask on her face. She wanted to be with her, hold her, make sure she was alright. "Are you sure we all can't just..."

"Ella, you know we can't all fit in there, and if they need to know something I can answer right away." Victor wrapped his arms around her and squeezed, "You'll be right behind us and she's in good hands aright."

Ella just nodded as Vic let go. He looked down at his son clutching on to her shirt like it would leave if he let go.

"Hey buddy, I'm gonna need you to be strong for your mom and your sister okay?" Nathan sniffled and rubbed his red eyes "Okay." he said in a small voice.

Victor turned for the ambulance and Ella led Nathan to the car. The car was silent as the two drive to the hospital other than a few sniffles from Nathan. When they arrived Victor was already in the waiting room, sitting with his elbows resting on his knees. He looked up when he heard the sliding doors open and waved them over. Ella and Nathan walked over and sat next to him, "How is she?"

Victor sighed first, "She started to wake up on the way over but couldn't answer any of their questions."

"Questions?"

"You know, 'What's you name' 'How many fingers am I holding up' those kinds of things."

"Oh ok."

"We should be able to go back there soon. They just want to check all of her vitals and everything. Depending on how that goes she might have to stay overnight for oxygen and monitoring."

Ella took in a deep controlled breath then let it out slowly trying to release all the anxiety and fear.

"Is she going to be okay dad?"

Victor looked at his son and smiled "Yeah, she's going to be fine. The doctors are just giving her a checkup."

"Victor you said my mother was doing something to her when you got up there. What was she doing?"

He frowned then looked down at Nathan then back to Ella. "Maybe we should talk about that later…alone." She nodded at him and leaned back in her seat.

What could her mother possibly have done? The double doors in front of them opened; all three looked up.

"Hale." The nurse called out and the family stood and walked over to the nurse. "Right this way please."

They followed the nurse past rooms filled with the sick and broken until they found the room with Trinity inside with a grin on her face. There was a female doctor sitting on a stool in front of her, doing a spinning pen trick. As soon as the little girl saw her family, her eyes widened and she slapped an even bigger smile on her face.

"Daddy! Mommy!" Her voice was raspy and rough,

"Now remember what I told you Trinity, try not to talk too much okay?" the doctor said giving Trinity her pen and a notepad to draw on.

She stood up and walked over to the family "I'm Doctor Webb, it's nice to meet you."

Victor stuck out his hand for her to shake "I'm Victor, and this is Ella my wife and my son Nathan. So how's she doing"

Webb shook his hand, "She's doing great, an absolute joy to work with. If I could, I would like to speak to you both outside the room for a minute."

"Yes of course," Ella said looking down to Nathan, "How about you check if your sis is doing alright, okay?" Nathan just nodded and walked over to Trinity drawing pictures.

Both parents and the doctor stepped right outside the doorway so they could still see the kids.

"Alright so we would like to keep Trinity here over night to monitor her breathing. Choked victims can suffer from…"

"Wait, she was choked?" Ella interjected.

"That's what my report says, yes."

Ella covered her mouth with her hands in shock "Oh my God, I can't believe that she choked her."

"Hey, let's let her finish okay? We'll talk about that later." Victor said rubbing her back.

The doctor continued "Well when victims are choked they can have a number of symptoms including difficulty breathing, severe coughing, and difficulty swallowing. With her being so young there could also be some brain damage. If she starts having and seizures, change in behavior, black outs; we would like to run an MRI and check things out from there. Right now, like I said before, she's doing fine. She'll need to rest her throat for at least two weeks which means she shouldn't talk too much."

"Well that's difficult thing number one, girl loves to talk," Victor said.

Dr. Webb laughed "Yes, I noticed. She's a very sweet girl."

"Is there anything she'll have to take, medication wise" Ella asked.

"She might have a sore throat for a little while. We can prescribe pain medication and something to sooth her throat if she needs it but most children like the alternative route."

"What's the alternative?" Victor asked.

"Sugar free vanilla ice cream, works wonders." Dr. Webb chucked out.

"Alright, so as long we don't see anything of those signs she should be good right?" Victor said.

"Well there is one other thing."

"What is it?" Ella questioned.

"Well you said that she had fallen from a dresser and that's what knocked her out correct? Not the strangulation?"

"Yeah, well, I didn't see it happen but that's what Nathan told me, yes. He freaked when she fell and went to find one of us and unfortunately found Martha instead," Victor answered back.

"Well, the curious thing is that there are no signs that she actually fell. There's no bumps or bruises other than on her neck. Children as young as her would have had a pretty bad bump from a fall that knocks them out, which is usually located on the head."

"So, what does that mean?" Ella asked.

"If she did fall, it couldn't have been hard enough for her to be unconscious without some kind of bump or knot on her head. Usually, when we have patients that come in from being unconscious are very confused and can even have some memory loss for quite a while; she has none of that. I believe that it means that something else knocked her out."

* * *

Dun Dun Dun, well, kinda anyway. So this is the last of the big flashback thing, hope you enjoyed it. This chapter probably had the most jumping back in forth that will ever be in this story. After this we will be diving to the Avatar world with some very familiar faces so I hope your ready for that. The rules have been set and now we play the game. Thanks for reading!


	4. The Captured

Yo, how's it going. Welcome back!

* * *

"So, they've been getting worse."

A now sixteen year old Trinity stopped spinning in the black rolling stool in the small doctor's office and looked up with her multi colored eyes. Her long curly dark red hair fell over the deep red school uniform she wore. The old raisin of a doctor sitting across from her was tapping his pen on a clipboard filled with papers that mapped out her medical history. Multiple blackouts and hallucinations slapped Schizophrenia on every page which caused copious amounts of brain scans and medications that don't show or help anything. Despite having to take a trip to see an old man in a white coat every few weeks she didn't mind going. Everyone was nice and each visit guaranteed a half day out of school, a lollipop and a spin in a rollie stool.

"Yeah, ever sense my birthday last week. It's mostly at night right before I go to bed. Honestly, I usually don't remember falling asleep or even laying down."

"And is she still there every time as usual?"

"Oh, I'm sure. Even if I don't see her I know she's there. She's always watching, wanting me to follow her. I never do though. She usually touches me, not the other way around."

"And are you taking your medication? Be truthful this time."

She gave him a wide smile, "Of course I have. Can't imagine how bad it'd be without it. Probably see duck people going to the local grocery store for biscuits," she said back with a fake British accent.

Her doctor grumbled and jotted some notes down while she chuckled to herself. She hadn't been taking any medication for years; it just made her sleepy and feel weird. After the third and final little rebellion when she was thirteen, she was forced to take it in front of her parents. That worked for about a week until she became an expert at spitting them back up.

"And the dreams are still all the same?"

"Yup, middle of the forest, big stone temple thingy and sometimes an extremely old lady talking to me about random things. Though she has been absent the past few visits don't know what that's about."

The doc wrote a few more notes down then pointed at the door. "Alright, go get your mother and I'll talk to her."

"Aye aye captain."

After the first couple times of lying about the meds, the doctor felt like if her parents weren't in the room then she'd tell the truth. It worked for about a month until she realized there was no consequence either way. Trinity rolled to the door to let her mother in the room. Ella walked in when Trinity opened it, "So how are things?" She looked back and forth between Trinity and the doctor hoping for good news.

"We're going to increase the dose again; increase her to 800 milligrams of Seroquel a day."

Ella looked a little disappointed, "Are you sure that will work? This is the third time we've increased her dose."

"These things happen Mrs. Hale, especially in teenagers. Not only are they still growing but their brains go through a lot of chemical changes. These increases will probably stop in a couple years when she's older."

Trinity mimicked his mouth movement with a bored expression on her face. This was the same speech that was given every time the dose increased, not like it mattered to her. Ella sighed pinching the bridge of her nose, "And how high can we go with this until we can't increase anymore?"

The doctor grumbled a bit before responding, "Well, we're at the highest dose we can use at the moment. As she grows we can increase to higher doses. We will also check her blood work on a more regular bases to make sure she is on the medication regularly."

Trinity's head shot up almost falling out of the stool "Whoa! Hey! Yo! Can we not do that part? The whole having a needle in me every few weeks sounds kinda lame and painful."

He stood up slowly and headed for the door, "Your mother and I know about your unwillingness to take your medication and with your condition getting worse we must make sure you are taking them. The blood work will make sure of this. Now, if you'll excuse me I have other patients I have to see."

Ella sighed, "Alright well I guess we should get going too. Thank you for your help again doctor. Come on Trinity."

Trinity hopped out of the stool, "See ya Doc."

While Trinity as in the room with the doctor, Ella was lost in thought. Her poor daughter had been on medication sense she was five and has been having trouble with just about everything because of it. She had a hard time in school because the medication made her sleepy. She had trouble making friends because of the blackouts and randomly talking to hallucinations. All she wanted was a normal life for her daughter but it seemed like that was getting further and further away the older she got. On the ride back, Ella glanced at Trinity was scribbling away in her sketchbook.

"So, what do you think about the dose increase?"

"I think I'm farthing my career in becoming a drug addict. Maybe I should start collecting and selling."

"I don't think that would be a very successful career."

"Ah you're right we both know I suck at math not to mention cartels aren't much into anti-psychotics at least I don't think so anyway."

"Speaking of, you can stay after school for math tutoring tonight. Nathan will pick you up."

"Aw man, I was hoping he wouldn't want to during his vacation."

"He had his complaints," Ella chucked.

I'm sure. You know, maybe I should be an artist."

"Why is that?"

"It's probably only thing I can get now, probably wouldn't be hired by anyone else. Plus I do like drawing. "

"Trinity…"

"Mom C'mon I have frequent blackouts, even without the hallucinations, no one would want me doing anything."

"Trinity you can't just assume that. You never know with this new dosing you could..."

"Mom, really? It won't work, nothing ever works. I'm stuck like this. What's the point of even trying?"

Ella sighed, unfortunately her daughter was right. No amount of medication has been helping her and living a normal live was just about impossible for her now. Silence befell the car as Ella pulled up to the giant red brick school. Trinity grabbing her bag and hopped out of the car.

"Well, I want you to at least try okay. I'll see you later tonight hun, tell Nathan to pick up something for dinner when he gets you."

Trinity didn't respond. Staring off in the distance toward the woods next to the school, she could see her there again in her purple glow, holding her hand outward. Her mother's calling voice echoing in her head mutable times caused her to snap out of it shaking her head.

"Alright, see ya later mom." Trinity said a little dazed as she trotted away. Ella watched her daughter walk into the school building then leaned over to try and see what she was staring at. She thought for a moment that there was a purple haze fading away but in a blink it was gone.

School was never Trinity's favorite thing in the world but at the very least she had a few good friends. High school was nowhere near as bad as middle school was but it still had its faults. Thankfully, because of the large student body she could mostly disappear but she couldn't escape the few that liked to pick on the odd balls. As Trinity walked down the white hallways to class, one of said odd balls walked up to her waving. She waved back as he trotted over to her.

"H-hh-h-hey T. Wa-wwww-wa-wa-w….-wa what's up."

"Hey Allen, how's it going?"

Allen had a speech disorder which caused him to stutter on almost all his words. Trinity met him last year when he was being picked on by two bullies. She acted like she had a black out right in front of them which scared the pants off of the bullies and, after some explaining, started an unbreakable friendship.

"Nothing much, just got back from the nut house now I'm in the fun house. How bout you."

Allen chuckled "I'm ffff-f-f-ine. I know h-hhh-how you feel, I have spee-e-eech class tomm-mm-m-orrow morning. Hey-y I wanted-d to thank yyy-you for that faaa-a-avor you did fff-for me last ww-w-week. They wen-nnn-nt tt-too far and deserv-vvv-ved every bit of w-www-what you did."

"My pleasure, my friend. My sneaky services are always available to those in need, especially when it's against the cruel and dumb." She said with a salute and a deep voice.

Allen laughed again giving a lazy salute back. "H-hey um, the drr-rrama club needs ss-sommm-e extt-tra hands settinn-nnn-ng up toni-ii-ight and it's al-ll-lways more en-en-en-entertt-t-taining when you hh-hhelp."

"Sorry Al, I'm gonna be..." she trailed off starring over his shoulder. The purple lady was standing down the hall calling her again with her hand reaching out to her.

"Damn she's really persistent today," she growled.

Allen gave a confused look then looked behind him to find nothing there. "I-is it the sam-mme one you alw-wways talk about," he said turning back. "Th-tthat purple woman-n?"

"Yeah, she's been really annoying lately!" she shouted the last few words as if yelling at someone. Before Allen can comment the bell rang signaling that class is about to start.

"S-so I guess-ss you can't-t make the drr-rr-rama club thing-g h-huh?"

"Oh yeah, sorry gotta go get by brain melted after classes."

Allen laughed, "Math."

"Math," she said flatly.

"A-alright well-ll, I guess I-I'll see you lat-ter, th-thanks again."

"Sure thing bro."

They both walked away to designated classes. The rest day passed by like a blur with only four classes and one tutor session. Class number one, English literature, in which she drew Hamlet pitching a skull to Ophelia in full baseball uniform. Class number two, Math, in which she slept because math caused her brain to go numb. Class number three, History, in which she stared out a window at the forest while the purple lady stared back. She refrained from yelling at her this time to avoid a trip to the school psychologist again. Class number four, Physics, in which she learned that everything she knew was a lie. Last, and certainly one of the least favorite, was the tutoring. Almost all the students shuffled their way out of the school except for sports teams and after school classes. She made her way to her dull grey locker to get her giant math book when two shadows appeared behind her.

"Hey freak." Two boys in school uniforms stood next to her locker.

"Hey guys! Brandon right? Love what you did with your hair super um brown and fluffy. And Josh, is that a new brain cell I see looking good with that buzz cut."

"It's Brian dumbass." Josh remarked.

"Shut it Josh! This is between me and her."

Brian and Josh were the two main, and quite generic, bullies of the school. Both were on sports teams, threw parties, dated cheerleaders, and liked to pick on the less fortunate. They were a pretty good tag team, Brian being the skinny and smart one while Josh was very large and very dumb one.

"You know, I think Josh would have some pretty good input on what going on here. He's so smart."

"Quiet," Brian yelled.

"Well I don't see how we can have a decent conversation if I don't tal..."

"I said shut the fuck up" Brian slammed his fist into the locker next to her head causing her to flinch in the opposite direction.

"Now, normally it's against my morals to beat on a girl especially one who's fucked in the head but I know for a fact that you put a dozen eggs in my bag and in my locker last week and I don't take that shit lightly."

"That's a pretty big accusation buddy. Why in the world would you think that?"

"Jessica saw you putting them in there during second period and I know you have a habit of playing stupid pranks."

"Heh, she probably forgot with her fucked up brain" Josh chuckled.

Brian turned his head to Josh with a scowl "She's a Schizo Josh."

"Wha does that mean?"

Trinity laughed out loud while Brian explained rather slowly, "It means she sees shit and thinks it's real."

"Whoa, that's crazy! What do ya see?"

"Unicorns, mostly unicorns." Trinity said back with a big smile.

"That's totally sick." Josh said nodding.

"Would you two...!"

"You know..." Trinity interjected Brian's yelling "I could teach you how to see things too if you want. It's really easy."

Josh blinked a couple times then leaned in close "Really?"

Trinity leaned in as well putting her hand to her mouth like she was telling a secret, "Totally man, but you both have to participate or it won't work."

"You gotta be fuckin kidding me?" Brian looked away crossing his arms.

"C'mon man, I wanna see a unicorn. Those things are manly as fuck." Josh said slightly shoving Brian almost knocking him over.

"Hey watch it, alright." Brian turned to Trinity, "You're dead after this."

"I accept that challenge. Now, you both have to turn around..."

Both boys turned, Josh visually excited.

"Close your eyes."

"What?" Brian tried to turn back around but Josh stopped him "Come on dude I want to see one." Brian let out a frustrated growl closing his eyes along with Josh.

"Now, I want you to imagine my voice getting quieter and quieter while you concentrate."

Trinity took the time to sneak away from the boys making her way toward a door. After a few steps Brian became impatient and turned around, spotting her.

"Hey get back here!"

Trinity took off with Brian chased after her without Josh. "Josh! C'mon she tricked you man." Josh's eyes shot open and saw the two running off.

"Hey wait for me! Is this part of the sight thing?"

In an effort to get away she made her way outside where she could hopefully hide and then she saw it. The glowing purple woman appeared behind the setting sun a few feet in front of her staying equidistant from her as she ran. It beckoned her to follow holding her hand out.

"Come, it's time," the woman said.

Trinity looked behind to see the boys catching up fast. She looked forward again, the woman was still there, leading her into the nearby woods.

"I feel like this is a really really bad idea, but to hell with it."

She continued to follow the purple woman into the woods farther and farther away from the school. When they were deep in the woods and she could no longer hear the boys yelling after her, they stopped.

"Come, it's time"

"Time for what? You've been saying that all week. I don't know what you mean."

She reached her hand out toward Trinity again, "It's time to go."

Trinity sighed looking away from the woman. She could start to hear the two boys in the distance yelling for her. It was either get caught by those two today and get her head dunked in a used toilet. Try to keep running only to come back to the same thing tomorrow. Or she could go with the purple lady. Right now the running option felt like a better bet but getting her head dunked in a toilet tomorrow wasn't exactly ideal either. She slowly walked up to the glowing lady, squinting at the light the closer she got. Trinity looked down at the hand reaching out for her. This was the thing she had avoided for years and just because of some stupid bullies she was finally going to go with her.

'What's the worst that can happen?' She thought 'A quick blackout, few days in a hospital, more meds and then back to normal.'

She touched the purple ladies hand and everything went black.

Trinity's head slammed against cold hard ground covered in green leaves and pines. She hissed as she sat up and rubbed her head.

"That was a hard landing. You couldn't have put me down gently?"

Standing up she looked around, the sun was setting and she was surrounded by familiar pine trees. "Welp, this is the same forest I always end in so if I head straight I'll hit the stone thingy."

She began to trudge forward past a few trees until she heard a growly gurgley noise in front of her.

"The heck was that?" She whispered to herself stopping to look around. There had never been any sort of life in the forest other than the old lady. Slowly, she walked forward until another growl and rustle came from in front of her again. Her eyes widened as she stopped again, "O-okay, who's out there?"

The rustling continued getting louder and louder until a large brown bear with a duck bill and beaver tail came out from the bushes. Trinity stood there eyes wide, mouth a gape

"What the whatting what!" She yelled as the bear stood on two feet and let out a roar.

"Okay! Okay! You're supposed to play dead right? Right?!

The bear roared again slamming back down on four feet and began to charge. Trinity screamed and took off away from the bear

"No dead, no play dead!" she screamed running as fast as she could through the forest. She ran until she spotted a thicket to bamboo off to the left. 'Maybe he's too fat to get in there' she thought as she made her way to the tall plants. Easily squeezing her way through the woody grass, she reached a clearing of spread out pine trees.

Turning around, she slowed looking for the bear until suddenly the back of her legs hit some rock plunging her in some lukewarm water. She immediately struggled to get out of the water hitting something on the way up. As soon as her head came up from the water she turned and found an old man just as shocked as she was.

"AHH!" she screamed trying to crawl her way out of the rock tub.

"Wait, there is no need to be alarmed," the old man said putting his arms up.

"No need to be..." she fell out of the tub on her back and immediately stood up facing the man. "No need to be alarmed! I just ran from a half bear half duck and then fell into a naked fat old man's rock tub thing! This is the perfect time to be alarmed!"

The old man gave a blank look them looked down at his belly poking it "Am I really that fat?"

Trinity's face flattened "I don't that's the main issue here. Why are you in the middle of the forest in a rock tub and who are you and why are you naked and and and...and I can't think of any more questions but I'm sure they'll pop eventually," she said crossing her arms and taping her foot.

"Well, I was relaxing in this hot spring but I must have dozed off. I awoke when you fell into the tub. My name is..." The old man stopped when the earth began to shake and rumbling like an earth quake behind the both of them.

Trinity turned to see a dust cloud snaking its way through the trees. Before she could think about running again she felt something hard and rough graze up her skin. Droplets of water hit her in the face as she turned to see the old man was surrounded by pointed rock.

"What the hell!" She struggled be bit but couldn't move.

"Is this rock?"

Three men dressed in all green jumped out from the trees, two with fists pointed at the old man, one man pointed at her. Two others dressed in the same outfits walked out from the trees, observing the scene. "A fire nation solider," one of them said picking up the old man's clothes off of a tree branch.

"He's no ordinary solider. This is the fire lord's brother, the dragon of the west. The once great General Iroh but now he's our prisoner."

The other man chucked, "What about this one over here?" pointing to Trinity.

"If she's not tied up then she must be an accomplice of his, take her prisoner to."

Her eyes widened, "Wait wait wait, I don't even know this guy! I just kinda ran into him or into his tub to be exact. If he's in trouble I've got nothing to do with it."

"How disgraceful; you fire nation scum are all alike. You'll do anything to save your skin."

"What are you talking about? What the hell is a fire nation?"

The rough surface binding her down suddenly fell only to be grabbed by the man closest to her. He grabbed both of her arms shackling them together across her chest, then tied her feet together with rope.

"Hey! Hey! The hell is wrong with you people!" She looked to the side to see the old man was getting the same treatment. "The heck did you do to them man, steal their puppies?"

Iroh didn't say anything. By the time it turned dark the both of them where loaded onto, what Trinity could only describe as giant emus and where on their way. Before Trinity could ask anything Iroh spoke up, "Where are you taking us?"

"We're taking you to face justice," the man on the same ostrich horse said darkly.

"Right. But where, specifically?"

"A place you're quite familiar with, actually. You once laid siege to it for 600 days, but it would not yield to you."

"Ah! The great city of Ba-Sing-Se." Iroh said wistfully.

"You were a solider? And what's Ba-Sing-Se?" Trinity interjected but was ignored.

"It was greater than you were, apparently."

"Hey don't ignore me," she quipped wiggling around.

"I acknowledged my defeat at Ba-Sing-Se! After 600 days away from home, my men were tired and I was tired," Iroh yawns, "and I'm still tired." In a loud thud, Iroh fell off of the horse seeming to fall asleep.

"Hey uh captor guys, he fell off the emu." Trinity said flatly.

All of the soldiers stopped, two of them hopping down off the horses to pick the man up and put him back on. Trinity looked down to see Iroh's sandal lying on the ground.

"Hey you dropped your..." Iroh made a motion for her to stay quiet but the solider on her horse heard her.

"What was dropped?"

"Uh he dropped his...toast. Yup, he dropped toast. Just some stale bread. No point in going back for that to try to eat it. No sir"

The solider growled "Keep quite or we'll gag you as well."

"Well, that just seems inappropriate, we did just meet."

"Quite!"

The ride, after that, was relatively quiet until daylight. Trinity was almost falling asleep until she heard Iroh gasp. She looked in the same direction to see a dragon flying above her head with someone riding on top.

"What the junk was that!" She yelled out loud.

"What's the problem?" One of them asked.

"Nothing." Iroh spoke up.

"What do you mean nothing? Did you not see that!?"

"Actually, she's right. There is a bit of a problem. My old joints are feeling sore and achy and these shackles are too loose."

"Too loose?" one of the soldiers spoke up.

"Too loose? What's that gotta do with the thing that just flew above our heads!"

"What thing?"

"It was nothing, just a large bird that I haven't seen before. I've done my fair share of bird watching in my old age you know."

"What!?"

"As I was saying before the cuffs are loose and they jangle around and bump my wrists. It would help me if you would tighten them so they wouldn't shake around so much." Iroh said giving a very goofy grin.

"Very well. Corporal, tighten the prisoner's hand cuffs."

They all came to a halt. The Corporal got down from his horse and turned to Trinity. "Do yours need tightening as well?"

"What? Hell no, but I wouldn't mind you loosening them," I said giving off the same goofy grin. The man gave a glare turned his attention to the Iroh."Hey don't ignore me! That was a very serious question!" she yelled.

Right before the Corporal touched Iroh's shackles, Iroh breathed out hot steam from his nose causing the shackle to turn red hot. Trinity's eyes widened then blinked rapidly thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her. Iroh pressed the Corporal's hand into the hot metal causing him to scream then jumped off of the horse shooting fire out of his feet. At that point Trinity knew she was dreaming but she still stared eye's wide and jaw dropped from what she just saw.

"Did you just AHH!" She couldn't finish her sentence as the horse that she was on freaked from the fire causing her to go tumbling down into a giant canyon along with Iroh. A barrage of rocks and dust followed them down the canyon, burying them from the neck down when they reached the bottom. Their captures slid down the rock after them, catching up quickly.

"They are too dangerous, Captain. We can't just carry them to the capital. We have to do something now."

"I agree. He must be dealt with immediately and severely."

Trinity was too much in a daze to hear what they said. She felt the rock lift off of her body and being dragged forward somewhere. She was startled back to fully reality when she heard a boom of a boulder breaking into pieces. Another man with a pony tail and pointy armor stood in-front of Iroh. He kicked the chain holding the two one a large rock, freeing Iroh but leaving Trinity half way tied to the rock. She didn't hear whatever was said, she was too busy trying to free herself from the shackle holding her down. Suddenly, she felt loads of heat and the sound of large boulders being thrown and broken. She looked up to find all of the men throwing rocks or fire at each other in some sort of magical battle.

She continued to struggle with the shackle, "Didn't your mothers ever teach not to throw rocks or play with fire!" she shouted but was unheard. A piece of rock whizzed by scraping her cheek as she became more desperate to free herself.

"Oh come on Mr. Rock I just want to get out of here." As soon as she finished saying that the rock lifted up on its own freeing her.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you." She made a break for it when something hard hit the back of her head knocking her out cold.

"Hello, young lady" Iroh's voice echoed in her head as she began to wake up. Her eyes fluttered open as he started to speak again.

"Are you alright?" Trinity head bobbed up and down as she recovered her bearings.

"What happened?" she groaned.

"You were injured in the battle. Prince Zuko and I helped you out of the canyon."

"Price who hoe?"

"Prince Zuko, he is my nephew."

Another voice began to talk a little farther away. "Uncle, we don't have time for this. I saw the Avatar's bison fly to the west. He'll be gone if we don't hurry."

"Prince Zuko, it is my fault this girl was captured and now she is injured. It is my responsibility to make sure she is safe enough to go home."

"This girl is probably from one these earth kingdom villages. As soon as she wakes up she'll run to find more soldiers. We should leave someone will find her on the path."

"No, it is too dangerous. We will take her to the village that is west of here. If she is earth kingdom then she will stay with them."

"What do mean if? She has to be..."

"I do not think this girl is from here. She was quite lost when she ran into me, among other things."

Her head couldn't really process the conversation or what was going on. She felt herself being carried then plopped in a sitting position on something scaly and rough. The two men got on next one in front and one behind her making sure she didn't fall off. Trinity slowly began to regain control of her movement and mind as they trudged on. She blinked a few times before setting her head up completely.

"What's going on?"

"Ah, you are awake. I'm glad to see you are alright." a familiar voice behind her said.

"Old man?"

"Please, call me Iroh. If you do not mind me asking, what is your name?"

"Trinity. Trinity Hale. Where are we going?"

"We're dropping you off at the earth kingdom village up ahead." The man in front of her said.

"Hey you're the dude that kicked the chain. Prin-somethin. I dunno. Hey, what's the earth kingdom?"

The price scrunched his face, confused at the question. He didn't bother asking or answering as they approached the village in front of them. She would be gone soon anyway and he had more important things to think about. As Zuko hopped off of the rhino to interrogate the villager that came out of his home, Iroh took the time to ask some questions.

"Do you mind if I ask where you came from?"

"He just shoved that man really really hard." Trinity said wide eyed.

"Ah yes, Prince Zuko's methods are a bit excessive."

"I mean it's kinda cool but jeez...Did you ask me something?"

"Ah, yes before you ran into me, where did you come from?"

"Well, I was running from these two guys and then I saw the glowing purple lady that I've seen all my live. Touched her hand, landed in the woods here, got chased by a duck bear and then I ran into you." She said nonchalantly looking back at Iroh. "Ah man your still naked what the heck." She quickly turning back around.

"So you have never seen this village before or its people?"

"Nope, honestly I've never been out of that forest when I come here. That reminds me. Do you know where a stone building thingy would be around here? That's where I need to go to get home."

"I know nothing of a stone temple being in this area but I can ask the villager. If you will excuse me for just one moment" Iroh hopped off of the rhino and walked over to Zuko who was threatening the poor villager with fire in his hand.

"Uncle, the avatar is headed to the crescent island. We need to leave now."

"Right, I would like to ask him one thing."

The villager was cowering in the corner, his arm covering his face. "Can you tell me if you recognize that girl?" Iroh pointed over to Trinity who had hopped of off the rhino and was staring off into the woods. The villager put his arm down for a second to look at the girl.

"N-no no I've never seen her before."

"What about a stone temple."

"N-never. There is only forest around here," the villager said shaking.

"Hmm," Iroh turned to Zuko stroking his beard.

"I would like to take the girl with us."

"What why? There's no reason to…"

"Listen to me Prince Zuko. This girl does not come from here and she seems to have some connection to the spirit world."

"So what?"

"I do not know where she comes from but she seems to be able to sense, even see spirits."

"I'm still not understanding why we should bring her."

"Because, if she is a link to the spirit world then she is a link to…"

"The Avatar." Zuko said with wide eyes. He marched over to Trinity who was still staring into the woods.

"You, you're coming with us." Trinity didn't divert her attention, "Do you know that there is a gigantic panda bear walking around in there."

"What?" Zuko looked for a second only to turn back around. "Stop talking nonsense! You're coming with us to find the Avatar."

"Sure thing but, ah two things. One: I don't know what an avatar is, and two no." she said looked at him.

"What do you mean no?"

"I mean no, as in, not gonna happen. I'm not just gonna go off with some strangers just because they asked me to. Actually, I have a stone temple to find so if you'll excuse me."

Trinity tried to walk off but Zuko grabbed her wrist pulling her toward him. "You're coming with us, whether you agree or not."

"Am I seriously about to be captured again?" Zuko grabbed her other wrist and began to tie them together.

"I'm really being captured again, great. This is awesome I love being captured." She yelled the last part and she was thrown over the rhinos back.

"Uncle, hurry up, we're leaving." Iroh hurried over to the beast and climbed on as well as Zuko and they rode back into the forest.

Far away from the group stood the stone temple covered in green moss and vines. Two tall figures stood at the top of the steps staring out into the forest. Black clothes covered their entire bodies with hoods and gloves. The only color that could be seen was in the masks that covered their faces. The male on the right was wearing a long red sorcerer's mask with two wide eyes, defined cheeks, and pointy teeth protruding out its gaping mouth. The woman on the left wore a green exorcising mask with three wide eyes and five mini skulls lining the top. Gold trim lined the eyebrows, cheeks and around the gaping mouth with large teeth sticking out.

"It's been two nights, something must have happened. We need to find her." the woman said impatiently in a raspy voice.

"Stay calm, Zheng. We'll wait for our orders as always," the male said crossing his arms.

"Orders smorders. We've been waiting sixteen years for orders and now that she's finally ready, we can't just go snatch her up. Maybe it's time for us to break the rules a little."

"Rule breaking leads to chaos, chaos leads too..."

"Irreversible damage to me and the things around me."

"And?"

Zheng sighed, "And a very mad Shen."

"Yes, rules are there for a reason and aren't meant to be broken."

"Except when you play pai sho" Zheng grumbled.

"I do not cheat at pai sho!" Shen shouted completely losing his composure and stomping his foot on the ground.

"Sure you didn't, that white dragon tile just came out of nowhere," Zheng said poking at Shen's shoulder.

"I told you the white dragon can land anywhere and steal enemy pieces!"

"Says who?"

"The rules!"

"Here we go again with the rules thing."

Shen screamed out in the air in frustration and almost lunged at Zheng when a messenger hawk landed on the top step.

"A message," Shen said stopping his assault and grabbing the letter.

"Finally, what is say?" Shen took a second to read the letter in full "She's been captured by the prince of the fire nation."

"Well isn't that overly convenient. So, we going to get her?" Zheng said stretching her arms above her head.

"No"

"No?"

"We are to observe her from afar and not interfere unless she is in life threatening danger." Silence befell the both of them as slowly turned to face each other.

Zheng grumbled, "Well that sucks."

"I agree."

* * *

Alright, the train is in motion. We're finally in the avatar world and have met some familiar faces. However, just because we're in the avatar world now doesn't mean the real world is no longer important. More mysteries and discoveries to come next time.


	5. The Deal

Yo, How's it going. Welcome back.

(P.S: There are a few asterisks that symbolize that there is an author's note at the end explaining that subject in further detail.)

* * *

"Okay, so how bout this. You guys let me go and I'll teach ya how to shoot gummy bear's outta you nose."

"Oh, that sounds intriguing! What is a gummy bear?" Iroh mused.

"It's a small but deadly, chewy treat that when wet, it's impossible to get out of your hair or off the bottom of your shoe."

"Hmm I see, and what is the purpose of blowing them out of your nose."

"Snot just makes it so much more disgusting, especially when there's a big old…"

"Would you two keep quiet!? I've heard enough of your babbling." Zuko snapped.

The three of them had been riding through bamboo forest for about thirty minutes. During that time Trinity tried to hop off the rhino and run about ten times in which Zuko had to chase after her and threaten to tie her legs together. The rest of the ride she tried talking her way out of the situation more times than she could count. She at least wasn't ignored the entire time with Iroh entertaining her crazy ideas and plans. Zuko, on the other hand, was none to happy.

"Well, I wouldn't be babbling if you didn't tie my hands together and capture me!"

"We will let you go if you have no use us. If you can help us capture the Avatar then…"

"I told you for the umpteenth time; I don't know what an Avatar is, you butt munch."

"What was that!?" Zuko snapped turing his head to her.

"Maybe we should hold on the hostility for now, the ship is just ahead of us." Iroh interrupted as the rhino slowed.

They approached a large black pointy ship docked on the ocean shore. The group came to a stop as the front of the ship opened up, steam leaking from the corners. Two soldiers in red and black armor and white masks, ran down the ramp grabbing the rains of the rhino walking it forward.

"All that steam makes it seem like it stinks in there." Trinity said frowning.

"You get used to it." Iroh chuckled

The rhino made its way up the ramp reaching the top. Another solider in the same armor ran up to greet them. "Prince Zuko, General Iroh, you've returned."

"Yes and I want this ship full steam ahead to Roku's Island. The Avatar is headed there." Zuko said hopping off the rhino.

"Hey pony tail, it smells a combo of rusty metal, wet dog and sweaty dude in here which is a combo that I never thought I would ever smell in my life. I'm quite impressed, I mean, I would clap if I had use of my hands." Trinity said with a tear falling from her cheek.

Zuko turned and glared at her "And throw her in a cell!"

"Yes sir." The solider responded and grabbed Trinity off of the rhino.

"Hey, c'mon! You're not going to question him at all! No, who is she? Where did she come from? Why did you capture this poor unwilling girl who has nothing to do with anything!?" Trinity shouted as she was carried away. She was thrown into a dark red room with a metal bench chained to the wall. Sitting there for what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes she felt the ship pull forward. After a while, the door opened with Iroh on the other side in full red uniform.

"Hello there, how are you doing?"

Trinity glared "Doing as well as anybody who's been captured against their will."

"I am sorry for my nephew's hostility. He is not very good at asking permission."

"I noticed..." She snapped back flatly.

"I'm sure things will clear up after some explaining. If you would follow me I can do that."

"That would be nice." she said walking out the doorway. The duo passed narrow metal halls with steam leaking through every corner. Trinity was already starting to sweat "This is like a bad guys hide out. Nothing but red, metal, heat and steam."

"I've tried to hire a redecorator but Prince Zuko says it isn't necessary."

"It's completely necessary man. A least put in some air conditioners in here or something."

"Air conditioner?"

Trintiy stopped walking, "You guys don't have air conditioners?"

"I don't believe I've heard of such a thing."

Trinity just stared at the elderly man.

"Is everything alright?" Iroh questioned

"Yeah, I just realized I'm probably going to die here." she whined slumping her shoulders walking forward. They made their way up to the control room where at least ten people were running around fiddling with different knobs and levers. Zuko was marching around the small room barking orders to every living thing that entered his sight. Iroh walked in and pulled out a small table and a tea set while Trinity stepped in and off to the side.

"Uncle, what are doing? This is no time for tea!"

"If Trinity is going to help us find the Avatar, she must understand the world here and how it works."

"We don't have time for that Uncle we have too..."

"The Avatar is about thirty minutes ahead of us Prince Zuko. I'm sure you can direct the crew until he is spotted."

Zuko let out a frustrated growl and marched out of the room. "Please take a seat, would you like some tea" Iroh pointed to the other side of a table. Trinity sat as best she could on a pillow next to the table. "I don't really like tea, thanks though. Hey, can an I be untied now, it's not like I can run anywhere."

"Ah, of course." Iroh walked over to Trinity and knelt down to her arms. He singed the rope right down the middle, "You should be able to break the rope apart now." Trinity tugged her arms apart, snapping the rope in two. She removed the rest of the rope noticing parts of the rope was burned at the edges.

"You burned it. How did you do that? Actually, scratch that. You blew fire out of your feet either, how did you do that?"

Iroh walked over to the other side of the table and sat down "You do not know anything about this world do you?" he said pouring himself some tea.

"Not a bit. Whenever I come here Gray would never answer any questions about this place. She would just say I'm not old enough to understand. I do know it's not the same place that I'm from."

"Gray?" Iroh questioned grabbing his cup, hot steam coming from the cup soon after.

"The old lady that stays at the stone building. She usually helps me get home."

"Ah, well I will go over the basics" Iroh set his cup down and reached over for a scroll sitting on a nearby shelf. He rolled out the scroll to reveal a map that had one huge land mass surrounded by smaller islands. Certain land masses had different colors that matched the colors of four large symbols on each corner of the map.

"Well this is different."

"There are four nations in the world, the water tribes," he pointed at the north and South Pole. " The earth kingdom," he pointed to the very large continent and three smaller islands to the south of that." "The air nomads," he pointed to clusters of mountainous islands at the north, south, east, and west. "And the fire nation," he pointed to a larger island of the west. Each nation has benders that can manipulate one of the four elements." Iroh created a fire ball in his hand then extinguished it.

"Right, that's the part that kinda boggles my mind a little bit. How in the hell is that even possible?"

Iroh chuckled, "If I had more time I would explain but we are in a bit of a hurry."

"What is such a rush that you can't explain magic fire people?"

"The next part of my explanation, the Avatar. As I said before, benders can manipulate one of the four elements. The Avatar can manipulate all four."

"That sounds pretty OP. Why are you guys after him? Does he own you money, betrayed your nation, acted good but then double crossed you for some hot chick. "

"To win the war against the other nations."

"Oh, serious stuff. Why are you guys at war? Did they bomb ya? Cause a natural disaster? Steal the Krabby patty secret formula?"

"The war started to spread the prosperity of the fire nation to the other nations but it has changed it has changed from prosperity to conquest. Taking over the other nations to show the power of the fire nation. Spreading hatred and throwing the world off balance." Iroh said darkly.

"Sounds like you don't agree with this whole 'war' thing."

Iroh sighed "My opinion no longer matters. The happiness of my nephew comes first."

"I don't think that guy knows the definition of happiness to be honest, but that has nothing to do with me. What does have to do with me is why you think I can help with this capture the flag game you're playing."

Iroh took a sip of his tea before explaining "The only way to end the war is to capture him. Prince Zuko has been tasked with the important duty of capturing him and bringing him back to the fire nation. It seems that you have a connection to the spirit world. The Avatar is the bridge between the spirit world and the mortal world. You may be able to connect with him somehow and help us find him."

Trinity's eye twitched as she stared at Iroh, mouth a gape. "So let me this get this straight," She leaned over the table. "You fire Nazi guys are at war with three other nations based on elements?"

"Correct"

"And the only way you guys can win is if you capture this Avatar person?"

Iroh nodded.

"And you think I can find him somehow?"

"That is what I believe, yes."

Trinity stared blankly at Iroh, "Are you freakin nuts! I don't even know what this guy looks like. Plus he's crazy magical..."

"A bender."

"Yeah whatever. So if I do get close to this dude, won't he just blast me with fire like you guys have? Or maybe he'll crush me with a rock like those green guys."

"The Avatar has not learned the other elements yet. He only knows air bending for now."

"Well I guess that's better than being blasted with fire but how the heck am I supposed to 'connect with him'. I can't sense anything and I don't have any connection with spirits." Iroh began to roll the map back up, "When we were captured by the earth kingdom soldiers, you saw a dragon fly over our heads just as I did."

"Who didn't see that?"

"Dragons have been extinct for years. The only way to see one is through the spirit world. Did you not notice that the soldiers didn't react to seeing the dragon at all?"

"Guess I was too busy being freaked out at a dragon flying above my head."

The two were interrupted when the door behind them bused open, "General Iroh, you've been summoned to the front of the deck, the Avatar has been spotted."

"Ah yes, follow me."

Trinity tentatively stood and followed Iroh down some stairs. A blast of cold air and the smell of ocean water hit her when the door to outside opened. The ship was charging forward at full speed through the open ocean while Zuko looked through a spy glass in front of them. Trinity stayed behind Iroh trying to see what Zuko was looking at but didn't see anything. The two men began to talk when she felt something, almost like a pulse coming from the sky. She rubbed the side of her head with her hand, "What is that?" said too quiet for anyone to hear her. Though the feeling wasn't enough to give her a headache it did make her try to find the source of this weird feeling. She squinted at the sky and saw something flying around up there.

"Is that him, that big fluffy beaver thing in the sky?" Trinity said her voice slightly strained.

Zuko moved the spy glass back and fourth until found what he was looking for. "There they are! Helmsman, full steam ahead! ," Zuko shouted.

The strange feeling got stronger and stronger as they got closer, now her head was starting to hurt like it was being hit with a hammer. Trinity slowly backed up to the wall next to the door and slid down rubbing her head. Iroh who was fanning away the stench of the fire balls turned to see Trinity hunkered down in the corner. He trotted over to her, "Are you alright?" he said putting a hand on her shoulder. Trinity's head shot up, looked quickly at Iroh then the up at the sky. "Y-yeah, just a bit of a headache." She said putting her head back down.

"Hmm…" Iroh looked up at Zuko who was gawking at a blockade dead ahead of them. "Technically you are still in Earth Kingdom waters. Turn back now and they cannot arrest you." He said stroking his beard. Zuko glared at Iroh then turned to look back. "He's not turning around." Zuko growled

"Please Prince Zuko, if the Fire Nation captures you, there is nothing I can do. Do not follow the Avatar." Zuko lowered his head "I'm sorry uncle." he whispered to himself. He turned to the helmsman pointing forward "Run the blockade!" Iroh let out a disappointed sigh then turned back to Trinity. She was now standing rubbing her temples with her fingers. He walked over to her, "Are you feeling any better now?"

"Little bit, I'm kinda getting over it."

"You might be feeling the connection between you and the Avatar."

"I don't have any connecting power thing. Probably just sea sickness or something."

"Sea sickness usually will cause stomach upset. It would be odd to have any headaches from that."

"Yeah, well maybe that's what I get on boats." she said standing up.

The ship suddenly shook violently along with a loud boom and explosion. Billows of black smoke poured from the top of ship and up in the air. "Prince Zuko, the engines are damaged! We need to stop and make repairs!" an engine worker shouted. "Do not stop this ship." He growled. The ships causing the blockage continued to launch fire balls in the Avatar's direction and just barely missing Zuko's ship. The ship approached the Fire Navy's blockade. As Zuko's ship gets closer, the ships of the blockade move towards each other in order to bar his way.

Iroh's eyes widened "We're on a collision course!"

"We can make it!" Zuko shouted back.

"Well, this isn't exactly how I imagined I would die." Trinity said flatly.

"Me neither" Iroh quipped back.

The blockage ship suddenly stopped moving opening a path for Zuko's ship to pass through. Iroh looked at the blockade fading into the distance looking pensive as he strokes his beard. "What is he thinking?" he said to himself.

"Well that was anticlimactic, was getting ready to blow up." Trinity said

"Are you feeling any better?" Iroh said.

"There's still a little bit of a buzz there but it's starting to go away."

Zuko leaned on the rail of the ship his hands clenched tight. "What's he up to, Uncle? Why didn't Commander Zhao arrest me?"

"Because he wants to follow you. He knows you'll lead him to the prize you're both after...the Avatar."

"I can't let him catch the Avatar." He said back solemnly.

"Uh, hey I know I'm new and everything but if someone's following you they'll be able to find you pretty quick with all that smoke." Trinity said.

"I know that!" Zuko shouted back.

"Well, then you should know that if you lead this ship somewhere else and take a smaller one to the Avatar guy, he'll follow that and you get your guy. I'm sure you guys have some sort of safety raft or something, right?"

"That is quite an idea Trinity." Iroh said with a smile.

"Well then, If Zhao wants to follow our trail of smoke, then that's exactly what I'll let him do." He turned to the crew still on the deck "Open the back hatch and lower a small boat" he yelled marching back into the ship, Iroh followed after him.

Trinity stood there for a second looking around to see no one there anymore. "Oh, I guess I should follow then," she said and trotted after them. Before she reached them the pulse in her head began again and it was getting stronger. She rubbed her head, "It's just sea sickness. I can't sense anything. I'm a normal pers…well slightly normal person." She ran into Iroh and Zuko halfway down the hall and followed them down to the bottom of the ship. A smaller ship was being lowered into the ocean with Zuko on it.

"Uncle, keep heading north. Zhao will follow the smoke trail while I use it as a cover." Iroh let out a grunt as he stroked his beard. "And you, you're coming with me." he pointed at Trinity.

"Why in the seven hells would I go with you?"

"I know the Avatar is headed to temple but I don't know where in the temple. That's where you will help." Zuko said walking back up the ramp.

"Oh my good gravy goodness, I have told you I cannot find this dude. What is wrong with you people?" Zuko marched behind her and began to tie her hand together.

"Are you seriously tying me up again? This is completely unnecessary! Where the hell would I go huh?"

"Maybe this is a bit excessive Prince Zuko." Iroh said

"She's our prisoner Uncle, I'm not going to give her the chance to escape." Zuko began to push her down the ramp.

"Who said I'm trying to escape? C'mon man!" The both got onto the ship and Zuko set sail for the island only a few miles away. The closer they got the stronger the pulse in Trinity's got. She closed her eyes tight shook her head.

"You can feel him can't you?"

"Why do you guys keep thinking that?"

"Uncle told me about your headache on the ship when we spotted the Avatar and now it's happening again as we sail closer to him."

"I told your Uncle, its sea sickness."

"You don't get headaches from sea sickness!" he yelled.

"Well maybe I do. You don't know me man." The ship went silent as the both glared in opposite directions.

"Hey, can you untie me?"

"No"

"Why not?"

"I don't trust you."

"Okay, I get that, but what could I possibly do to you? You have magic fire powers and even if you didn't it's not like I could beat you up. You're covered in pointy armor."

"We're getting close." Zuko started messing with some controls on the small ship.

"Are you really gonna ignore me?" Zuko stayed silent. "You know what ponytail you're a butt face and I'm going to take pleasure in messing with you until the very end."

"Keep quite!" Zuko yelled.

Trinity huffed and looked away. As soon as she stopped talking she felt the pulse in her head again. She shook her head again trying to get to go away."So uh, a why'd they make a building on a very active volcano?"

As he docked the ship on the shore. He pulled down the ramp and the both of them walked down. "You couldn't park this thing any closer?" Trinity said a little annoyed.

"We'll have to run. C'mon." Zuko said taking off in a sprint

"What hey I can't run with my arms tied up. Get back here!" They both began to sprint to the building only for Trinity to stop halfway.

"Hey listen man," She said panting and out breath "I got good cardio but this," She paused to try and catch her breath again "this is too much. Can we take five or something?"

Zuko stopped and glared back at her "We don't have time for this. Stop complaining and hurry up and climb." he snapped staring his trek back up the mountain.

Trinity followed behind "Okay so how about we make a deal?"

Zuko didn't stop walking this time "What are you talking about?"

"Well if, and I do mean if, I can sense this guy and I help you catch him, you have to bring me back to the stone building."

"How do I know you won't just run away?"

"You have my word I won't try to run or anything until you catch him alright?"

Zuko didn't answer just grumbled under his breath.

"Well is it a deal or not!?" Trinity yelled at him stopping where she was.

"Fine, but only when I have the Avatar in my hands will I bring you back. Now keep moving."

The pulsing in her head was getting hard to ignore as they got closer to the building. The conversation was doing a good job of distracting her. "And no more tying me up."

"What?"

"I don't wanna be tied up like a dog on a chain every time we go to look for this guy."

"Fine, I won't tie you up anymore, if your useful."

"And I don't wanna stay in that cell either. If you got rooms on that stinky metal ship I want one."

Zuko didn't answer again. "Well, I guess I can't help if I can't get a room. I'll be way to uncomfortable sleeping on the cold metal floor..."

"Fine! You'll get what you want now would you shut up!"

"Gladly" she said with a smile. Unfortunately, silence caused the headache to come back only ten times worse. She tried counting the rocks below her feet, how many clouds in the sky, even tried counting how many beads of sweat that fell off of her face as the walked. Anything to take her mind off of her pounding head but to no avail. As soon as they came to the front step a pressure hit her like a rock from above. Falling to her knees she found it hard to breathe, her head felt like it was being crushed. Zuko heard her hit the ground and turned quickly to her.

"What's wrong?" he said kneeling down on her level.

"U-up there. There's something up there." she gasped pointing a shaking finger to the top of the temple. Zuko stood, immediately heading for the temple entrance but stopped after a few steps. He looked back to see Trinity still on her knees gasping for air. He growled out in frustration and turn around to untie her hands. "Go back to the ship and wait there." he said quickly, running inside. Trinity tried to brace herself with her arms but they gave out causing her head to hit the warm rock. The pressure coming from the top of the temple barreled down on her like a boulder. She couldn't move; she couldn't breathe the world around her began to fade. Just before she lost conciseness she saw a familiar purple light.

Nathan, now twenty years old, parked his gray car at Trinity's school a little later than what he was supposed to. He got a bit side tracked with visiting friends and completely forgot he had to pick up his sister. Her class must have run later than normal though because she never called him at seven when the class was done. Pulling out his phone he dialed Trinity's number and waited for an answer. There was none. He tried a few more times to get the same result each time.

"Damn it, I keep telling her to pay attention to her phone." he said to himself exiting the car.

He straightened up his plain button up shirt and dusted off his blue jeans before walking up to the school building to find a young female teacher exiting through the front doors. "Uh, excuse me."

"Hmm? Oh my you are quite a handsome man. What are you doing here so late, come to rescue me from these crazy kids." she said laughing.

Nathan laughed along with her, "Unfortunately, no. I came to ask if you know where the math tutoring class for juniors is?"

"Well it's my lucky day. That's my class. What can I help you with?"

"My sister, Trinity, is in your class. I'm here to pick her up but she's not answering her phone. Is she still in the building?"

"Trinity? Your her 'stick in the mud' brother she talks about?"

Nathan's face flattened "Y-yeah, I'm the stick in the mud brother." he sighed rubbing the back of his head.

The teacher chuckled "She never made it to class today. I just assumed she couldn't make it like last week."

"Oh, she probably skipped out. She's really not a fan of the subject."

"Oh yes, I know all about her 'allergy to math' as she calls it. Well tell her I'd like to talk to her tomorrow about tonight's lesson and I hope I'll get to see you soon too." she said winking.

He nodded "Uh yeah, will do. Thanks for the help." he said walking back to his car. As soon as he got in he tried her number again to get no answer "She is so dead." he mumbled to himself pulling out of the parking lot.

As soon as he pulled into the driveway of his parents' house he hopped out of the car and into the building. He couldn't make too much noise because his father was asleep upstairs but he wanted nothing more than to sneak into her room and scare her awake. Although she did deserve it after making him drive all the way out there for nothing, that would have to wait until next time. He quietly walked down the hall to her room, the same one they had when they were kids. The door creaked as he pushed it open to a dark room "Trinity, hey wake up." he said in a whispered into the room. When he got no response he slowly crept up to the bed then slammed his hands down on the sheets letting out a hushed yell. He, once again, got no response.

"What the?" he leaned over and turned on the lamp sitting on the end table next to the bed. There was no one else in the room. He took a quick glance around the room before walking back out.

"Trin? Trinity, you in the house?" he said making no effort to keep his voice quiet. He did a quick run around the house while calling her phone and her name several more times to get no answer. Panic started to set in like a dagger to the heart as he ran out to the backyard. "Trinity!?" he yelled running around the yard to see if she was there. With no luck he ran back inside and upstairs to his father's room and banged on the door.

"Dad! Dad wake up, it's an emergency." he continued to bang on the door until it opened with a creak.

"What? What is it?" Victor said in a tired groan.

"Was Trinity home when you got here?"

Victor let out a yawn "No, you were supposed to pick her up from tutoring class remember?"

"I know but when I went over there, her teacher said that she never showed up."

"What?" Victor said a little more awake now.

"Yeah, so I came back here thinking she just went home and I can't find her anywhere."

Victor pushed Nathan and made his way down stairs "And she's not answering her phone?"

"No, I've called her like twenty times." Nathan said following down the stairs.

Victor marched around the house turning on lights and looking around for his daughter calling her name over and over again. "Dad I've already done this. She's not here."

Victor stopped in middle of the hall and let out a frustrated sigh. "She must have blacked out somewhere," he said walking over to the home phone and dialing a number. After few rings Ella picked up the phone, "Vic, I really can't take personal calls at work. You know this."

"Trinity's missing," he interrupted.

"What!? What happened!?"

"I'll give you the story later but Nathan and I are going to the school right now to search the grounds. Is there any way you can come home?"

"I-I can ask but you know how my boss is. Even in emergencies he's kind of iffy."

"Listen, don't panic okay. If you can get off work that would be great; if not then we'll meet up when you get off alright."

"Yeah, that will work."

"Okay I'll see you in a few hours, and don't worry this isn't the first time this has happened. We'll find her just like last time."

"Yeah your right, I'll talk to you later."

"Bye hon." Victor hung up the phone and walked past Nathan to go back upstairs.

"Let me throw something on and we can leave."

Within minutes the two were headed to the school but something was bothering Nathan since his father got off the phone. "So, this has happened before, her going missing like this?"

Victor sighed "Yeah, last year. We were at the fair and she went off to get something and didn't come back. Turns out she blacked out in a closed part of the fair where no one could see her."

"And you guys never told me this because…"

"Because we know how much your sisters illness upsets you and you had just left for collage. The last thing we wanted to do was burden you with all that."

Nathan stayed quiet then looked out the window. He was never one for questioning why people did things, he just accepted them and moved on keeping his thoughts to himself.

"I'm sorry for not telling you." Victor added after a moment of silence. Nathan stayed quiet looking out the window. He wanted to yell at his father. Yell at the world for cursing his sister. Yell at himself for not telling the truth twelve years ago but none of that would ever come out. His biggest regrets always came from not saying what he meant to say or just not saying anything. That night at the hospital he told his parents that Trinity just fell and that he really didn't see the purple lady. He was so scared of what would happen if they knew she was there. Through the years whenever his parents would ask after Trinity saw her his reply would always be no. Her illness always made him upset because he was the only one who knew it wasn't an illness but something else. This one lie caused Trinity's life to go spiraling down and caused his to be filled with regret.

The two men pulled into the school driveway and climbed out of the car. "There are flashlights in the trunk," Victor said "You go look around the building, I'll see if I can find a janitor or something to get inside. I got my phone if you find her."

Nathan nodded grabbed a flashlight and set on his way. He marched around the open school yard calling Trinity's name every few minutes in hopes that he might hear a response. After ten minutes of searching the front and the back of the school, he came back around to see if his father had gone back to the car. "He must have been able to get inside," he mumbled to himself not seeing his dad anywhere. He stood by the car for a minute not knowing what to do. Should he call his dad or maybe the police, or should he just stay at the car and wait.

'Maybe waiting is the best option' he thought leaning against the car. He was about to pull out his phone when he saw a flicker of something in the woods. Stopping what he was about to do and shined the flashlight in that direction to see if anyone was there but saw nothing. Cautiously, he put the light back down and tried to go back to getting his phone but then he saw it again. He slowly made his way over to the thicket of trees, shining the flashlight in front of him. The flicker of light grew as approached the woods. Nathan stepped into the woods following the light. It was almost like it was calling him as he walked almost in a daze. He followed the light until he found a clearing in the woods were the light was coming from. Right in the dead center his sister laid there still as stone and right above her was the purple lady. She stood there in bright light staring right at him. Nathan didn't know what to do. He hadn't seen the woman sense he was a kid and now there she was right in front of him. Should he charge, should he call his father, should he question her. All these thoughts ran through his head but before he could anything she nodded at him then disappeared. Nathan stood there in shock for a minute then made a dash for his sister.

He fell to the ground and scooped his limp sister into his arms "Trinity, hey wake up. C'mon." He readjusted her in his arms so he could pull out his phone. Victor answered, "Did you find her?"

"Yeah I found her in the woods. She's not waking up."

"Shit, she blacked out. I'll call an ambulance. Can you get her to the car?"

"Y-yeah, I can carry her back." Nathan put his phone away and lifted his sister in her arms. He carried her to the car and set her into the passenger seat. Letting out a large puff of air he looked at his sister. She was practically dead in the seat with leaves in her hair, mud smeared across the left side of her face. Nathan started to pick the leaves out of her hair.

"What did she do to you?" he said to himself. After the leaves were out he began to wipe the dirt away with his hand. "I wish I could help you. I wish I could tell them the truth." he said softly. He stopped wiping the mud off when he heard his father trotting up behind him.

"Hey, how is she?" Victor said looking into the car.

"She's just..." Nathan let out another huff of air rubbing his face with his hands "She's just lying there, I mean...I don't know." he said walking away from the car.

He ran his hands though the short hair on his head feeling weak and useless. It had been a long time since he'd seen his sister like this. Was this the point they were at? Finding her in the middle of woods passed out. Worst of all he felt like it was all his fault. If he had left when he was suppose to she might not have been in this situation. Nathan turned back to the car he heard sirens in the background. Red and white lights filled the area as EMT's loaded up his sister and carted her off to the nearest hospital, Nathan just watched.

Victor trotted over to him "Hey, your mom was able to take off work, we'll meet her at the hospital. You okay bud?" Nathan didn't look at him just nodded and walked to the car.

Trinity's eye's shot open after losing conciseness. All the pain she was feeling was gone but so was everything around her. When she looked around it was all purple hazy space except the one solid thing that she was laying on, a bridge. The bridge had several different markings on it and what looked like different languages as well. It stretched as far as her eyes could see, fading in the haze the further away it got. She stood up on her feet, "Hello," her voice echoed through the empty space.

She tried to walk forward but felt like she was going nowhere, the bridge just went on and on. "Is this the twilight zone or something?" she said as she stopped walking.

"Heeeelllloooo" She shouted.

"You were going to die." a soft female voice echoed in the space.

Trinity instantly recognized the voice, "Alright you big purple weirdo come out!" she yelled out.

"I will protect you for now."

"Protect me from what?"

"You must become stronger."

Trinity huffed "Uh-huh and what the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"We must go back."

"You know I feel like I'm at the beginning of a new TV show or something and you are purposefully not giving me answers so people ask questions." Trinity said back flatly.

"You will return soon."

"What does that even mea... ah forget it?" She said sitting down cross legged.

The purple woman did not speak again after that leaving Trinity on the bridge in the empty void by herself. She sat there for a few minutes until she thought she heard muffled voices talking. Instead of questioning where I was coming from she stood and started walking down the bridge again. The voices neither got quieter or louder as she walked. Eventually she made her way to the side of the bridge and looked down. Now she was never really good with heights but when it looks like the entire universe was underneath a large bridge it made her a little more than nauseous. She gulped and slowly made her way back to the middle of the bridge and sat back down.

"Maybe I'll just sit here for a minute." she said to herself.

She sat there until she started to feel very tired almost like someone just dosed her with something. Within seconds she fell over asleep. Unbeknownst to her, she slowly began to fade from the large bridge until she disappeared.

Zuko was running down the stairs of the temple trying to get out as fast as possible. Though he was un-able to capture the Avatar, getting captured by Zhao could not happen. He would lose all chances of getting honor back, getting his home back. He made his way through the entrance door only to find something that stopped him dead in his tracks. The girl, whom he couldn't remember the name of, was still laying on the ground but she was glowing purple. He took a step closer to find there where swirly lines and different character markings* all over her body that was emitting the purple glow. A loud boom from the building caused Zuko to snap back into action. He quickly scooped up the girl and ran to the small ship. After the ship was on the waters he turned to the limp girl. He first made sure she was still alive, listening for breath sounds and checking her pulse. After feeling a pulse he then stared to inspect the strange symbols littered all over her body.

The symbols were grouped in a way that almost looked like a large tattoo similar to the Avatar's. It started at her forehead down her head branched out at the base of both ears and created swirls on her cheeks. Going down the back it branched again at her shoulder blades swirled her arms and to her finger tips. The stripes swirled down her legs to her toes as well. The characters inside the tattoo, Zuko couldn't read. They were ancient, he could make out a few words: fire, water, earth, air, and spirit.

He looked to see his ship close by, the front already open for him to dock, Iroh standing right at the opening. As his crew latched the small ship to the larger one pulling it in while Zuko scooped up Trinity and climbed off the boat. "Get me the medic!" Zuko yelled at a random crew member. Iroh ran up to the both of them. "What happened? I saw the temple fall."

"Zhao caught up with me somehow. He tried to turn me in but the Avatar destroyed the temple allowing me to escape."

"I'm glad you are not hurt," Iroh said with smile. "Though the same does not seem to be true with our new member here. What happened to her?"

"I don't know." Zuko set her down on the floor her back against the wall. "She had some sort of attack right outside the doors of the temple. I told her to go back to the ship and wait for me there but when I came out she was passed out glowing like this."

"Hmm," Iroh knelt down looking at the characters glowing on her body.

"What do they mean Uncle?"

"These characters are very old. It would take an expert to decipher what it means, though I do recognize some of them."

"Fire, water, earth, air and spirit." Zuko said.

"Correct, it repeats quite a few times."

"Do you think it's connected to the Avatar?"

"That is hard to say. It very well could be but I think it might be more complicated than that."

They both went silent staring at Trinity. Slowly the glowing tattoo began to disappear and she started to stir awake. She fluttered her eyes open to find the two men staring at her with wide eyes. "Gah! What? What is it?" she screamed staring back with one eyebrow raised. Iroh placed a warm smile on his face while Zuko did the opposite standing up.

"You're awake. How are you doing?" Iroh said.

"Fine mostly." She turned her head side to side looking around "Though I don't remember how I got here." She said slowly.

"You don't remember what happened at the temple?" Zuko said.

"Nope, I remember us walking up that huge hill and then it felt like someone put a wooden steak through my head for like a split second and now I'm here."

Iroh stroked his beard "Hmm. That is very odd."

"It was probably just another black out no biggy."

"Another, what do you mean another?" Zuko said.

"I've had frequent black outs since I was like five. Like I said no big deal. By the way did you catch your guy?"

"No" Zuko growled out and started to walk away. "I'm going to my room, the medic should be here shortly. Uncle get the crew to start heading north as soon as possible." He said stalking off.

"Aw man, I was hoping he would get the dude." Trinity pouted.

"So you are okay with helping Prince Zuko find the Avatar?"

"Well, we sort of made a deal. He catches his guy, I go back home. Seemed easy enough."

"General Iroh!" They both looked up to see a young skinny man with pale skin in red cloth clothing and buzzed haircut. "Ah Tao, over here." The skinny man trotted over to the two of them.

"It's nice to see you General," he said bowing to him, "Is this the patient?" he said looking at Trinity.

"Yes, she was unresponsive a few minutes ago."

"I see," he said kneeling down to her level and placeing the back of his hand on her forehead.

"Well this is new. I usually get old farts for doctors."

Tao chuckled "My father was a doctor and I liked the idea of helping people. Excuse me for a second." He placed a hand on her chest and back and counted her heart beat and respiration rate*.

"That's what all doctors say. Admit it, you did it for the money didn't you?" she said back sarcastically."

He laughed again, "The pay is nice too, I'll admit. Now I'm going light a fire next to your face to check your eye dilation so it might be a bit warm." He lit a fire in his palm and held it close to each side of her face. "I've never seen anyone with two different colored eyes before. It's quite interesting."

"Believe me, they're more trouble than they're worth," she said flatly.

He smiled at her then stood up, "General I believe that she is in full health. Though to do recommend rest for a few days just as a precaution."

"Thank you, Tao."

"I'll be in my quarters if you need me." He bowed at Iroh then bowed at Trinity giving her another smile and walked off.

"He's rather good looking isn't he?"

Trinity's eyes widened and blushed a bit "No! You dirty old man. Besides I don't have time for stuff like that." She said standing from the floor and walking away. Iroh watched as she turned the corner only to pop her head out "I don't know where I'm going!" Iroh chucked and followed after her.

Zheng sat cross legged on the ground of the crescent island tapping her finger against the dirt while Shen paced behind her. "Would you stop pacing!? What's done is done." Zheng grumbled.

"I just can't believe you lost the ship. How in the hell to you lose a ship!?" Shen yelled throwing his arms up in the air.

"There was a lot of smoke. Anyone could have missing it." Zheng shrugged.

"I can't believe this. It's going to take days for us to catch up with her. And you know how long it will take for me to bend us all the way back to the Earth Kingdom!?"

"We'd be there sooner if you'd stop griping."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Hey c'mon, let's just get a raft and get over there. Yelling won't solve anything." Zheng sighed getting up.

"Says the person with the shortest temper in the history of short tempers." Shen growled.

"Your one to talk." Zheng snapped back. They both were mask to mask growling at each other until the loud explosion of the volcano behind the snapped them out of it. Zheng turned away from Shen "Damn, I forgot the volcano was erupting." She laughed.

Shen let out a frustrated sigh, "Why do I put you in charge of anything. You'd forget a platypus bear was gnawing on your leg if you turned away from it."

"Would not." She said as she walked over to a slow flow of lava a few feet away.

"Here's a good patch." She stuck her fist out, up and over causing the lava to follow her movements into the water. The lava's impact caused an influx of steam to fly in the air. After the steam cleared an awkward shaped black rock remained for them to get on.

"Remember it'll sink as soon as we get on so you'll have bend it up and out." Zheng said.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it. You ready?"

Zheng nodded.

"One, two, three!"

On three, the both of them jumped onto the rock raft causing it to sink just slightly. Shen used his water bending to hold the raft up and used the rest of the force to push them away from the island and out into the night sky.

* * *

Asterisk number one: The glowing tattoo that Trinity has in this chapter is, believe it or not, inspired by the ATLA movie. As vomit inducing as that movie is, Aang's tattoo was pretty cool I have to admit. Trinity's tattoo is very similar to Aang's tattoo in the movie in that it is one large tattoo that covers the body with several markings and writings inside of it. As for the writing inside, as all of you know, ATLA writing is based off of Chinese modern simplified characters which is what the Chinese use to write today. I wanted the characters to be a lot older than that. Old enough to were I feel like Iroh wouldn't be able to understand it but not so old that it looked like oracle bone, which is the Chinese first recorded form of writing and looked a lot like hieroglyphics. The type of writing I picked is called clerkly script which is right when we started to get the character shape we have today and started to lose that picture like look. It's not as sharp looking as modern simplified and has thicker brush strokes. This form of writing will be coming up a lot in this story so I wanted to explain that it does look a lot different than from what our ATLA characters are used to seeing.

Asterisk number two: I have absolutely no idea if they have stethoscopes in the ATLA world and could not find out if they did or not. -_-'

So we're done with chapter five and well on our way. I must say this chapter when WAY off the outline I made for it, so I hope it's still good. Also, I hope everybody's character is at least close to what it is in the show. Nathan is back in the mix as well, who is just as important as Trinity in this story so look out for him in the future. We also found out some new information about Shen and Zheng that also is quite important but I'll let you figure out what that is. I will give you guys one thing, when the purple lady was talking to Trinity on the bridge she wasn't talking about one singular event but many that may or may _not_ have happened yet. How's that for puzzle! More might be revealed next time (insert evil laugh here) Thanks for reading!


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